The Midnight Rose
by Lady Shadow Walker
Summary: Heather never lived a perfect life, or a good one. She was just glad to be alive. She goes to Hogwarts and meets the Marauders, Severus Snape, Regulus Black, and many more. She has a mysterious past and the Marauders want to know more about her, but one werewolf wants to know more than the rest. Will they be able to exept the truth when it comes out, or will she be left on her own?
1. Things Would be Different

**A/N: This is my first story. I am not sure that it will be great but I can hope. All reviews are appreciated.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. **

Chapter 1

"Are you sure, my lord?" a man in a black cloak inquired.

"Yes, Fenrir. Do you doubt me?" a cold voice asked. It belonged to a pale, raven haired man sitting on a throne.

"Of course not. I was merely wondering if you were positive," the cloaked man replied hastily. Fenrir was no fool. He knew better than to anger his "lord".

"I thought so. Know, do not let her escape. She might not look it, but she is more powerful, more valuable, than any Death Eater. She has senses better than yours. Bring her to me unharmed. If there is one scratch on her you will pay," the man on the throne ordered in his cold voice, his crimson, slit eyes flashing.

"Of course, my lord." Fenrir responded.

"Good. It is time that my daughter came back to help with the greater good," he said with a high, bone chilling laugh.

Fenrir respectively bowed his head before he stood up and left the room. His cloak billowed around him as he walked preparing to get Death Eaters to catch the girl.

_The girl, _he angrily thought to himself. She was going to steal his place in the Dark Lords inner circle, most likely, _Why have I not ever seen her before? Why must she be caught? Without being harmed! She will not be loyal to the Dark Lord. _ Fenrir continued to stalk through a cobblestone hallway, lit with torches, as he grumbled to himself.

...

Many miles away a conversation, much like Fenrir's, was taking place. This conversation, however, had two very different people talking. Unlike the Dark Lord and Fenrir Greyback, these two people were good and kind-hearted. They were also talking about the same girl. The Dark Lord's daughter. The Dark Princess.

"She needs to come to Hogwarts," a man's voice said. The voice belonged to a wizard in light purple robes.

"Why so late, Albus? Why did she not begin when she first able to?" a stern looking woman asked. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun on the top of her head.

"Because it was not time yet. She has had peace, and as much as I hate to take that peace away, she must now come to Hogwarts," the old man explained scratching his beard which was so long that it was tucked into his belt.

The woman pursed her lips but did not argue further, "Do I need to send her an invitation? Or do you wish to send a personal letter to her?"

"I will send her a letter myself, but thank you for offering, Minerva." The bearded man said his bright blue eyes twinkling.

Minerva frowned but nodded. With a smile the man turned. A 'pop' sounded and the man was gone. Minerva was worried. Not about Albus, but about the girl. She hoped she would be safe.

Minerva sighed before taking a step towards the door. As she moved a cat took her place. The cat was a tabby with distinct markings around its eyes. The cat bounded out of the room leaving it quiet once more.

...

"It has now begun," an alluringly beautiful redheaded woman said. She, like all in the room, appeared to be in her early twenties.

The room looked like something out of a mythology movie. Its marble floors reflected slightly, and its pillars stood tall. The building seemed to float on the clouds. In the middle of the large room there where thirteen chairs - or thrones?

The beautiful redhead was sitting at the head of the thrones. She was obviously in charge. Her brown eyes had a knowing look in them, and her hair was partially pulled back and out of her face.

"Good. Now the future will be brighter. Harry will never grow up without his parents. Neither will Neville, or the countless others. So many will not die: Lily, James, Remus, Sirius, Severus, Regulus, Fred, Colin, Tonks, Cedric, Dobby, Marlene, Gideon, Fabian, Dorcas, Emmeline, Albus, Alastor, and so many more," an angelic-looking blonde murmured. Her light blonde hair was pulled elegantly to the back of her head. She was sitting to the right of the redhead. Sorrow was in her golden eyes and the rest of the room became sad at her statement.

"It won't happen like that this time," a handsome black-haired man swore. His dark blue eyes flashed with determination. He was sitting to the left of the redhead."We have Heather this time."

The redhead smiled slightly. "Of course, Alter," she said, and turned to the blond. "Those people will hopefully not die this time, Rosalie," she told her second and third in command.

"They won't, Scarlett," an Italian-looking woman confidently told the redhead, "We interfered this time. Heather will succeed. How could she not? She was powerful before and now we each gave her a gift. With those thirteen gifts she will be unstoppable," the woman continued. She was sitting two seats to the right of Rosalie. Her black hair was pulled into a neat ponytail and her dark brown eyes sparkled in hope. She had a charming smile that lit up the room.

"I hope you are right," a stunning blonde said from beside Alter. Her hair was curled and fell softly over her shoulders. Her stormy grey eyes revealed her worry.

"I wish I could tell you that she will be fine, but I cannot," Scarlett sighed, "but what could be worse than what happened last time? We may be the Council of Thirteen, the Fates, but this time destiny will have to decide its own path," she murmured. The idea obviously bothered her.

Scarlett sighed again, "This will- this_ must_- work. I trust you all completely and I trust that we have made the right choice. We are doing the right thing, Rosalie," she nodded her head at her second in command, "Altar," she nodded at her third in command, "Anastasia," she looked at a gorgeous black hair, emerald green eyed woman sitting beside Rosalie, "Megan," she gestured to another beautiful redhead with grey-blue eyes sitting beside Megan, "Leah," she nodded at the Italian, "Bernard," she nodded at a handsome curly dark brown-haired man with light brown eyes sitting beside Leah, "Jasper," she smiled to the light brown-haired man with amber eyes sitting beside Bernard at the end of the row.

Scarlett turned her attention to the left of Alter, "Erica," she nodded to the blonde, "Allan," she grinned to handsome man with grey eyes and light brown hair, "Willow," she slightly smiled at a pretty blonde with brown eyes sitting beside Allan, "Vivian," she gestured at smiling brunette whose slightly curly, long hair fell slightly past he ribcage and her warm brown eyes shining, and she had a radiant smile on her face, "Phoebe," she lastly looked at another Brunette with wavy hair and brown eyes.

Scarlett felt a rush of pride as she beamed at her friends. She did not know what she would do without them. She truly loved every single one of them. she just hoped that Heather, the only hope for the world would be okay. The only reason that the Fates had meddled was because after Harry Potter "killed" Voldemort, they were unaware that one more horcrux had been out there still. In the next year Voldemort was back and become ruler of the wizarding and muggle world for nearly fifty decades almost killing everyone. They could not let that happen again. Things would be different.

**A/N: I tried to not be confusing with the seating for the Fates. In case you wanted an actor or actress to think of when a Fate is mentioned I did this:**

**Scarlett= Ariana Grande**

**Megan= Deborah Ann Woll**

**Rosalie= Leven Rambin**

**Willow= Bridget Mendler**

**Erica= Ashley Benson**

**Vivian= Miley Cyrus (When she still had long hair.)**

**Jasper= Jackson Rathbone**

**Phoebe= Victoria Justice**

**Allan= Garrett Hedlund**

**Bernard= David Krumholts**

**Anastasia= Alexandrea Daddario**

**Alter= Logan Lerman**

**Leah= Alyssa Diaz**

**It is not perfect, but if you imagine it then it could work. I did change some of their eye colors though. **


	2. A Tumble Down the Stairs

**A/N: I have posted chapter two now. I do not know when I will post chapters. It will probably be completely random. Any way Heather will be introduced in this chapter as well as some other important characters for the plot.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

Chapter 2

"WAKE UP!" someone bellowed.

Heather jumped up quickly becoming alert. She head butted something that was above her and it fell over with her landing on top. She looked down with wide eyes to see none other than the grinning Ashton Zabini.

"What was that for?!" she demanded blowing some of her dark red hair out of her face.

Ashton shrugged, "I wanted you to wake up."

Heather rolled her eyes and got off of him. She jumped up with the grace of a dancer - or in her case, a skilled fighter - and pulled Ashton up with surprising strength for her size. "Well I might as well go get breakfast then." She turned to leave the room, but Ashton pulled her back and tossed her onto her bed. He then sprawled out on the bed himself.

He lazily snapped his fingers. A loud 'pop' sounded and a house elf in a small navy blue outfit was standing there. "Can Electra do anything for you, Master Ashton?"

"Can you bring Heather some breakfast, please?" Ashton politely asked.

"Of course, Master," and with another 'pop' the house elf was gone.

Heather frowned at Ashton. He looked back at her exasperated. "Oh, come on. I said please!" he defensively said. Heather stopped frowning at him after a moment. She was not fond of slavery. The Zabini's house elves where taken good care of, and even paid, but it still bothered her how they ordered them around. Of course she was not sure that it could be considered slavery, because all of their elves were technically free, even though they did not act like it.

"So why did you want me to wake up, Ashton?" Heather asked him curiously.

Ashton's face became grave, "I have to go to a big Death Eater meeting later, and I want to spend some time with you before I go."

_Oh, _Heather thought. Ashton was a spy for the Order of the Phoenix, and every time he went to a meeting he was always worried it would be his last. Heather worried about him. He was only eighteen- a year older than Heather- but he had so many things to worry about.

Heather felt a wave of guilt. Here she was safe and sound while Ashton would go out and risk his life at Voldemort's hands.

_At least I can help some people, _the rational part of Heather's brain thought but the rest of her conscience did not agree, _but you are only in danger of the Death Eaters. Unless they catch you then you are safe._

"What are you thinking about?" Ashton asked pulling her out from her thoughts.

"The Midnight Rose," Heather said sheepishly.

Ashton sighed, "I hate that you do that. What would happen if you got caught? Don't even say anything about him not being able to recognize you," Ashton added noticing her open her mouth to remind him about her disguise- changing her appearance (black hair and dark purple eyes) and her dark clothing as well as black mask. "You would be in even more danger if he did not know it was you. If the Dark Lord could tell it was you he would be willing to listen to a good excuse and let it go. You're good at making things up on the spot, and like I said he would not want to kill you. You are too valuable. He did not give you _that _for no reason," he continued looking at her left forearm.

Heather instinctively touched her forearm where the Dark Mark was permanently burned into her skin. Even though she hated Voldemort she still wore the mark proudly around her house- the Zabini's. She was proud that she was able to have that mark and still be on the light side. It was a sign that he had failed.

Heather's eyes then flashed to her left shoulder where the Order of the Phoenix mark was- a phoenix tattoo. It was partially covered by the strap of her black tank top. Her tattoo had a blue outline around the fiery color of the phoenix. It meant that she was very high ranking in the order, and that she was to be trusted unconditionally.

Without realizing she was doing so she had started to trace the phoenix as she began to talk, "Yes, but he would want me to join him again and I'm not ready for that yet." She looked up fearfully at Ashton.

He sighed and pulled her into his side. "You never have to join him again," he murmured.

Heather looked up at him, "I have to eventually. It could mean the difference between his defeat and his new reign," she mumbled back.

"You are the best sister I could ever ask for," Ashton said trying, and succeeding, to lighten up the mood, "You're selfless too," he slyly added with a wink trying to make her uncomfortable. He knew that she did not like complements much, because she had always been so used to never receiving them.

Heather rolled her eyes with a slight blush and pushed him, and he tumbled off of the bed. Heather looked over the edge of the bed with wide eyes.

Ashton was lying sprawled on the ground looking up shocked, but obviously not hurt. Heather started howling with laughter as soon as she realized that he was unharmed. Ashton joined her after a moment. After laughing for a few minutes Heather looked at Ashton where he was still on the ground. "I'm not even technically your sister. I'm adopted," she told him. "Besides you're not cool enough to be half-demon," she added slyly before jumping up and running out of the room quickly with Ashton right behind her.

He caught up with her when she almost ran into a wall and he threw her over his shoulder. "Gotcha!" he quickly ran towards the stairs and started to go down the stairs at a fast pace.

Heather, not thinking, started to pound on his back. "Let me down, you purple-eyed spy!" she half yelled. The Zabini family all had dark hair and dark purple eyes.

Ashton lost his footing and they both fell down twelve feet of stairs before landing in a heap at the bottom. Ashton groaned slightly from pain at the impact, but Heather's fall had been cushioned, for the most part, by Ashton.

"What happened?!" a beautiful Italian woman demanded. It was Valentina, Ashton's mother. She had run into the huge room in the manor (more like mansion) when she heard the crash.

"Us tumbling down the stairs," Heather casually stated from her place on the ground. Things like that seemed to happen all of the time at the manor.

Valentina's eyes widened and she quickly rushed to help them up. She helped Heather up and Heather turned to help Ashton up, "Urgh…. you need to eat less," she complained.

"You could practically pick me up a minute ago, and now you can't even help me up," Ashton stated flabbergasted.

Heather shrugged, "Oh yeah," she then pulled Ashton up. She took the time to actually look at him. He was about 6'1. His dark, Italian skin contrasted surprisingly well with his purple - nearly black - eyes.

"You two are okay, right?" Valentina asked shaking her out of her thoughts.

"We're fine. Jeeze, you act like you found us singing in the chandelier again," Heather said rolling her eyes. Ashton and Heather had been singing Christmas carols in the chandelier. The twenty foot Christmas tree had been up, as well as all of the other decorations, and Heather had decided that they needed music. Ashton had then decided that their voices would be the best way to listen to Christmas music, so they got in the chandelier to get a better view of the decorations. Needless to say, they had nearly given Valentina a heart attack.

"Don't remind me," Valentina grumbled.

Electra then came out of nowhere, "Your food is ready, Mistress Heather."

"How many times do I have to tell you to call me Heather. Forget all of that 'Mistress' stuff, please," Heather kindly requested, but Electra was already gone.

"Oh well," Heather sighed before brightening up and running towards the kitchen. "Food!" she exclaimed as she ran she pulled her long red hair into a ponytail.

"It's bacon time!" she half yelled when she ran into the dining room seeing all of the food that Electra and the other house elves had fixed.

Ashton and Valentina were out of breath when they caught up with her.

"Someone is hungry. Like always," Ashton said still slightly out of breath.

Heather grinned and was about to start her breakfast when an owl flew in and dropped a letter in front of her. She quickly looked at it before beaming.

"Who is it from?" Ashton asked curiously.

"Dumbledore!" she responded before tearing open the letter.

**A/N: Sorry for ending it like that, but oh well. All reviews are apprietiated. Hope you liked it.**


	3. The Letter

**A/N: I know that the chapters are a little short for now, but they will get longer eventually. As far as Heather being half-Demon, she will not be an evil Demon. In this story there are some good demons - though there are not many.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

Chapter 3

Heather quickly read over the letter, and quickly did a double take. She could not believe it. She had often wished it would happen, but for it to actually happen? She was shocked.

She stood there in silence before she suddenly started laughing happily. She did a little jig, and grabbed Ashton to dance with her. He seemed confused at first, but just shrugged and started dancing with her as she laughed.

Valentina looked at them confused before she picked up the letter for herself. Her eyes widened comically before she joined their jig.

"So… what are we dancing for?" Ashton asked looking like a confused puppy.

Heather grinned before giving the letter to him, "Read it!" Heather read it again as he did.

_Dear Heather,_

_ I have some good news. You are coming to Hogwarts when school starts. I know that it is sudden, but I will explain more when you arrive. Ashton already has a meeting with me that night, so he will be there as well. You will arrive the same way that all of the students do. Try to keep you heritage a secret until we decide what to tell everyone. For now just say that you were homeschooled all of your life, but decided to go to a real school to get more experience and that you are pureblood. I have attached a list of everything you need for the school year to this paper. I look forward to seeing you on the first of September._

_Sincerely, _

_Albus Dumbledore_

_P.S. Fabian and Gideon will be your D.A.D.A. professors this year so you can feel free to teach them new things. They want me to tell you that they are excited to see you._

Ashton's eyes widened before he grinned. He sat the letter down, turned around, and picked Heather up. He span her around in a tight bear hug.

"Can't breathe," Heather gasped.

"Sorry," Ashton said sitting her down. He playfully ruffled her hair and continued to beam at her exited. He suddenly seemed to realize something. "Oh… last year was my 7th year. My last year. I won't be there with you…" he frowned before getting happy again. "Oh, well. I guess it was just meant to happen," he said. "but it is completely unfair that you get Fabian and Gideon for your teachers. I wish I had them. All my DADA teachers were terrible," he continued disappointed.

Heather grinned at him. "They love me more," she sang.

"Of course they do. You three gingers are in cahoots," he teased.

"Come on, you two," Valentina lightly reprimanded, reminding them that she was in the room. "Let's not be mean." she told them, but her eyes were sparkling with happiness.

"But it's true," Ashton whined. "They're in cahoots!"

"Maybe we are, and maybe we aren't," Heather winked and used a muggle saying. "the world may never know!"

"We need to get you your school stuff!" Valentina exclaimed. "and a book bag…?" she added question.

"The bag I have is good. There is no way that I took the time to steal a bag with unlimited space with a really good feather-light charm on it just to not use it. Oh, and it's a good place to keep the silver lamp without having to worry about anyone stealing it, because of all of the safety charms on it where only I can open it… or other people I give permission," Heather said thoughtfully.

Ashton sighed enviously. "I want a silver genie lamp so bad," he stated bluntly before continuing. "I mean, I know there is not a genie in the lamp, but that is awesome how you have a mansion inside of a small lamp that you have full access to. Are you sure you don't know where you got it from?" he asked.

"I'm positive. One day it just showed up with a note saying that one day it could be important. Just like my necklace," Heather said lightly touching her necklace. She had had it for as long as she could remember. She had called it a necklace for at least two years before she learned that it could turn into almost anything. Bracelet, earrings, ring, crown, anklet, hair comb, or even a collar. It looked like whatever she wanted it to look like. Her favorite part of it was how it recorded everything that happened in third person unless she spoke a charm that stopped it. She always wondered where it came from.

"Yeah, well, if you find out, will you let me know?" Ashton questioned.

"Of course."

"Okay," Valentina said clapping her hands. "Heather eat your breakfast, and after you finish write a letter to Dumbledore."

"'Kay," Heather responded before quickly sitting down and eating. Ashton quickly followed suit.

While Heather ate she couldn't help but smile to herself. At that moment she loved her life more than ever. _Too bad it probably won't last…. _She quickly shook the thought from her mind. _No. This is a happy time. Voldemort isn't here. Greyback isn't here. You are safe, _she thought firmly to herself. She couldn't help but wonder, _but what if while I'm here safe there are people out there at this very moment that are probably being tortured by him? _

Heather felt a wave of guilt. She had left her fathers' home like a coward. Now who would be there to keep Voldemort from taking his anger out on helpless people? She used to take other peoples punishments for them. But now there was no one to do that. There was no one to keep muggles from suffering for long. _There is no one there for Xavier, _she realized sadly. Xavier had been her only real friend in all of her time with Voldemort. He was also a werewolf. He was one of the few werewolves who did not agree with Voldemort's plans. He hated him. Heather and Xavier had quickly become friends when they met. She had been five and he was seven. She had been great friends with him until she had escaped for Voldemort when she was fourteen. She could not take him with her, and that made her feel horrible.

"What are you thinking so hard about? I can practically hear the wheels turning in your head," Ashton's playful voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

She quickly looked up. "Nothing…"

"I know you better than that, Heather. What is it?" he asked concerned.

"I'm thinking of Xavier…" she admitted.

"It's not your fault. You couldn't have taken him with you," Ashton instantly said understanding what she was thinking of.

Heather sighed before nodding. She turned back to her food and continued to eat.

After a few minutes in silence Ashton became bored, "Make your eyes turn red," he requested. He had a strange fascination with that particular demon trait she had. Her eyes would flash red if she was very angry, very annoyed, or if she wanted them to.

Heather rolled her eyes, but did as requested. She then spent the next five minutes flashing her eyes from her regular dark brown to a bright crimson as she finished her breakfast. After she finished she stood from the table. She knew Electra would get her plate as soon as she left.

She grabbed a piece of parchment and a muggle pen, and she sat down to quickly write a letter to Dumbledore. She told him that she could not wait to come to Hogwarts, and to say hello to Fabian and Gideon for her. She looked down at her elegant handwriting and signed her signature. Her handwriting was as neat as all strictly raised purebloods - she had been raised as a pureblood, and believed to be a pureblood.

"What do you want to do?" Heather asked Ashton.

He thought about it for a moment before his eyes lit up. "Show me more about muggle things!" he said excitedly. After Heather had escaped from Voldemort she had been slightly obsessed with muggles for more than a year. She knew almost as much as a muggle-born which she was proud of.

"Okay let's think…. Oh! I know! I'll tell you about football. It's a muggle sport," she then spent the next hour explaining in great detail how to play football.

Ashton suddenly leapt up gripping his forearm. He looked at Heather with wide eyes. "He's calling early," he looked terrified.

"Be safe," Heather whispered right before he apparated from the room and to where Voldemort was waiting.

Valentina suddenly rushed into the room with her wand drawn. "What happened?"

"Voldemort summoned Ashton," Heather sighed before she suddenly burst out. "I hate Voldemort! He would have been bad enough human, but no! He has to be a demon! A stupid Ambulant Demon! The most rare and dangerous of them all! How did we manage to get so unlucky? Seven Ambulant's in the whole world and Voldemort just had to be one of them! I am most likely a half-breed because he decided he wanted an heir - male or female. The nerve of him!" she growled.

Valentina sighed and pulled her into a hug. "I know. I know," she whispered. "At least we have you on our side, and you know what he really is. Without you Dumbledore would not have known. Also you go out dressed as the Midnight Rose, and save so many people," she mumbled. "It's dangerous. I can't stand how you and Ashton are constantly in danger."

"I'm sorry that we worry you. I suppose that is one good thing that I can still help people, though," Heather sighed before pulling out of the hug.

She went to stand up but a white she-cat suddenly jumped into her lap. "Oh! Hi, Isis!" she greeted the cat.

Isis purred in response, and Heather couldn't help but think that Isis had a knowing look in her eyes. Isis always seemed to understand everything that was going on perfectly which confused her. She even seemed smarter than humans some times.

Heather smiled down at Isis and scratched behind one of her ears.

"I think I'm going to read until Ashton gets back," Heather decided before grabbing her wand out of her pocket. "Accio Heathers bag."

A bag zoomed into her hand a minute later. It was a small bag, and appeared like it could fit into small spaces.

Heather opened the bag and pulled a heavy book out that looked much too large to fit into the bag. She sat the book beside her.

"Do you need anything before I start reading?" Heather asked Valentina.

"No," Valentina responded with a slight smile. She got off of the couch and headed towards the grand staircase and up towards her room.

Heather picked Isis up before lying back on the couch. She sat Isis in her lap, and she grabbed her book. Isis curled up and went to sleep as Heather started to read.

_I hope Ashton is okay, _was her last thought before she tuned out the outside world and focused on the book.

**A/N: There! Another chapter finished. I might not update for a while because I have a lot of end of the year testing for the next three weeks. Anyway, have a wonderful day. Reviews, as always, are appreciated. **


	4. Seven 'o' Clock!

**A/N: I'm sorry! Don't come after me with pitchforks! I really was going to update but my laptop broke. It's fixed now, but all of the memory on it was lost. So I had to rewrite this chapter. I hope it is as good as it was before I lost it….. Anyway, Enjoy!**

**Warning: This chapter is a little gory. So, if you have a light stomach you have been warned.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other recognizable content.**

Chapter 4

_Boom!_

Heather jumped dropping her book and sending Isis sprawling to the ground. She clutched her wand defensively as she looked around the room with wide eyes. Her eyes landed ten feet away from her where someone was hunched over on the ground. The person moaned in pain.

Heather cautiously walked towards the person. They were wearing Death Eater clothes, and they looked to be in a lot of pain.

Heather crouched down beside them and realized they were clutching their stomach in agony. She gently removed their mask from their face. Heather gasped.

_It was Ashton._

"VALENTINA!" she shouted. She turned to summon her bag, but Isis was sitting behind her with it in her mouth. The she-cat dropped the bag beside Heather.

Heather sent a quick smile at Isis, and did not miss how the cat dipped her head in recognition. Heather shook the thought from her head; she would think about it later. She shifted through her bag and pulled out a locked chest. She sat it on the ground beside her just as Valentina ran into the room with her wand drawn.

Valentina froze at the sight that met her eyes. Her wand hand fell limply to her side. She blinked once with wide eyes before her mind completely registered what she was seeing. She sprinted to her son and collapsed beside him. She started checking his pulse.

"What happened?!" Valentina demanded as she checked her sons fading pulse.

"He apperated like that," she mumbled before she spoke a long, complicated spell under her breath to unlock the chest. As the chest unlocked it grew in size. It grew to be large enough for Heather to curl up in it and close it with some room left.

"We need to get him to Saint Mungo's," Valentina said.

"No!" Heather quickly disagreed as she opened the chest. "They will realize that he is a Death Eater, and arrest him. He will go to Azkaban," she told her. Seeing that Valentina was more worried about her son staying alive than him going to Azkaban Heather gripped the woman's shoulders, "Are you a healer or not?" she demanded. "We have the supplies for him to live. Calm down so that we can concentrate. Check how bad the wound is. Tell me what potions we need," Heather ordered realizing that Valentina was too panicked to take charge of the situation.

Valentina steeled herself, and nodded. She shushed her son's whimpers, and lightly moved his hands away from his stomach. Ashton fainted as she did this. Valentina started to look at the damage done to him.

Valentina gasped and fell back slightly. "No…" she murmured in a broken whisper.

Heather looked up from going through the chest full of potions to look at her adopted mother. Seeing the horrified look on her face Heather inquired, "How bad is it?"

"Really, really bad," Valentina whispered.

Heather furrowed her eyebrows and moved to Aston's side to look at his stomach. She could not help but gasp. It was a bloody mess. The skin had been completely ripped. Most of the muscle was hanging off, and you could slightly glimpse some of his organs on the inside. He was bleeding at a fast rate.

Heather cursed loudly under her breath. She had seen many horrible cases, and she knew that her brother - in everything but blood - was dying quickly, and did not have good chances of living.

Heather quickly grabbed her wand and started murmuring long song-like spells under her breath. The muscle started to stitch itself back together slowly. Once the muscle was stitched back together Heather fell back gasping. It had sucked a lot of her energy out of her to do that enchantment.

Valentina watched her with wide eyes, "How did you do that? I've never seen anyone use that spell," she said confused.

"I invented it after Xavier had a rough full moon," Heather told the woman grimly as she started to pull potion bottles from the chest. She grabbed a goblet from the chest and started to mix potions together into one. "For pain," she added a light blue potion into the goblet. "For blood regeneration," she added a deep crimson potion. "To grow back his skin," a murky green potion went into the mix. "To make sure he stays asleep," a foggy white potion went into the mix. "To prevent infection," she added a slightly glowing purple potion. She bit her lip, and looked at Valentina. She turned towards the chest and pulled out a dagger. She held her arm above the goblet and, with a last glance at Valentina, lightly cut her wrist. She let her blood flow into the goblet before she used a simple mending spell on her wrist. She spoke another spell over the goblet. The potion lit up like a beacon. Heather turned away from the bright light as it faded slightly. When she looked back the potion was a velvet-black color. She mixed the potion slightly before she turned to Ashton.

Heather was about to make Ashton drink the potion when Valentina grabbed her wrist. Heather turned towards the woman.

Valentina looked both horrified and worried. "What did you just do?!" she demanded.

"I just made the only thing that will save Ashton," she responded grimly, but confident with her choice, before she turned to make Ashton drink it. When she turned her eyes widened.

Ashton was awake again.

He looked around with blurry eyes. His eyes landed on Heather, and he grasped her arm. "They are setting a trap. They're going to attack a huge muggle mall, and hope you come. They will kill everyone in the mall. They want you to come. To capture you. They want the Midnight Rose dead so that they can take you back to the Dark Lord. He wants you back. The mall is the largest in London. They're going to do it at seven o'clock tonight," he gasped out.

"Shhh," Heather shushed. "I'll deal with it. You need to drink this," she told him offering the goblet. He nodded groggily and grabbed the potion. He looked at the color of the potion strangely before drinking it. He fell back asleep the second he was finished the potion mix.

Heather checked his pulse and felt it getting slightly stronger, "He'll be fine," she said smiling in relief.

She turned around just for Valentina to start interrogating her. "What did you just do?! That was dark magic, wasn't it?! Demon blood is poison! What do you mean he'll be fine?!" Valentina fired the questions at her one after the other. She looked terrified. She had tears in her eyes, and she was obviously confused about what had just happened.

"One question at a time," Heather said. "I saved his life. He will live. The potion I gave him was a form of dark magic, yes. But would you rather Ashton be dead? While demon blood is poison my blood does not have to be. If I have ill intentions towards someone then my blood is poison. If I have good intent towards someone then my blood can be used to heal," she explained softly to her adopted mother.

Valentina looked at her blankly for a minutes before blinking several times. "So he will be fine?" she asked slowly.

"Yes, Valentina," Heather told her patiently. "He will be fine."

Valentina seemed to digest this information for a moment before a sob escaped her lips. She hugged Heather nearly crushing her rib cage with the force of her hug. "Thank you. Thank you," she repeated tears rolling down her face.

Heather smiled slightly before her eyes got blurry with tears. She had nearly lost Ashton. Her brother. Tears rolled down her face as she realized just how close she came to losing her brother. The two women hugged each other as they cried.

Heather felt something rub up against her leg. She looked down into the icy blue eyes of Isis. The she-cat looked mournfully at her before nudging the watch on Ashton's wrist.

Heather looked curiously at Isis before looking at the watch. Her eyes widened in horror. She had fifteen minutes to get to the muggle mall. She gasped and stood up. She said a spell under her breath and all of the supplies she had taken out of the chest went back in. the chest locked and shrunk itself. She grabbed the chest and shoved it into her bag.

She looked back at Valentina. "Get him upstairs. I'll be back later!" she told her before sprinting up the stairs and to her room.

She ran to her closet and took her Midnight Rose clothes out. She did the spell to change her appearance. Her red hair turned pitch black. Her dark brown eyes turned dark purple. Her skin turned white as snow.

She quickly changed out of what she had been wearing. She put on a snug black shirt with black pants. She put on a pair of black, muggle military boots. She fixed her pitch black hair into a tighter ponytail.

Heather grabbed her black mask and put it on. It covered most of her face. She grabbed her long black cloak. She put it on as she sprinted out of her room. She looked at the clock on the wall as she ran by.

She had about ten minutes to get to the mall before the Death Eaters.

_Why did it have to be seven 'o' clock?! Could they not give me thirty more minutes, _Heather thought desperately before apparating from the manor.

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed. I feel very evil for stopping there. Oh, well. Guess you wonderful Harry Potter fans will just have to wait to see what happens. There should be a fight in the next chapter. For all of you that are waiting for the Marauders they should be coming in within the next few chapters.**


	5. Ninja-like Moves

**A/N: I am so sorry that I have not updated! I went on vacation to the beach for a week, and forgot my laptop! Now I have to pack, because I am moving. I'll try to find time to update, but it will not be easy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other recognizable content.**

Chapter 5

Heather looked around quickly before sprinting down the street that she was on. The people that she was running by were giving her strange looks, but she did not care.

She had just made a sharp turn around a corner when she ran into someone. She tumbled over and fell onto the person.

Heather stumbled up and helped the person up quickly. She caught her breath as she looked at the person. It was a boy around her age. He was handsome with black hair and stormy grey eyes.

"Sorry," she gasped out before taking off again. The boy watched her incredulously before running after her.

He caught up with her and sprinted through the city with her, "Where are you going?" he managed to ask.

Heather looked at him out of the corner of her eye and noticed something. He had a wand poking out of the pocket in his jeans. She skidded to a stop quickly. He continued to run for another ten feet before he stopped. He jogged back to her, "What is going on?" he asked out of breath.

"You're a wizard!" she said ignoring how his eyes widened, "Floo the ministry. Get Moody and Kingsley. Tell them that Midnight needs them immediately at the largest mall in London," she ordered him. He looked at her confused, but he nodded.

"Thanks," she smiled slightly before sprinting off again her cloak billowing behind her. She glanced back once more before she saw him duck into a building, hopefully to do what she told him to do.

When Heather got to the mall she had two minutes before the Death Eaters would begin their plan. She looked around wildly while she breathed heavily. Just when she started to think that they had already gone inside she saw movement in the shadows near one of the exits of the mall.

Heather looked closer, and noticed their clothes. They were death eaters. They went into the mall, and she rushed to follow them.

The mall was crowded and large. Heather pushed through people trying to keep up with the Death Eaters. They were headed to the center of the mall that had a large glass structure that the Death Eaters climbed onto when they reached it.

Heather tried to get to them but she was too far away.

The Death Eater that seemed to be in charge walked forward slightly and raised the wand in his hand. He fired loud shots out of it. The sound echoed loudly, and everyone froze. The people nearest to them were the first to run.

Then things became chaos.

All of the muggles started to panic. They swarmed towards the exits, but the Death Eaters were faster. The sent spells flying towards the doors that locked them. There was no escape for the muggles.

Loud laughter came from the lead Death Eater that silenced the muggles. He pulled down the hood to his Death Eater cloak. His face had an animalistic look on it, and Heather immediately recognized him.

It was Fenrir Greyback.

Greyback was within Voldemort's inner circle, and was in charge of the werewolf part of Voldemort's army. He had been the one to turn Xavier and countless others. He was merciless and dangerous.

"Hello, defenseless muggles," Greyback sneered. "We have taken over this mall, and are going to kill every one of you, but don't worry we'll make it quick. Maybe," he laughed cruelly. "And if we are lucky the Midnight Rose will come and after we kill her we will be one step closer to finishing our plans to take over every pathetic muggle on this world," he continued.

People were getting even more worried now. They tried to put as much distance between themselves and the Death Eaters as possible. Honestly, Heather was becoming more afraid by the second. They had set this trap for her, and she knew that Greyback's 'plans' that he mentioned probably had something to do with her joining Voldemort again.

Heather pushed her way through the wave of people towards the Death Eaters. She was almost there when Greyback nodded to one of the Death Eaters, and the Death Eater grabbed a muggle woman in her late twenties.

Greyback sneered down at the woman as she begged to be let go with tears running down her face. He rolled his eyes at the sobbing woman. "Shut up or I will make this worse on you," he snarled.

"Please," the woman begged. "I have children that need me," she sobbed.

Heather continued to push her way towards them. Just as she pushed through Greyback pulled out his wand, "I warned you," he said harshly. "Crucio!"

The woman writhed in pain as she let out a deafening scream.

Heather gasped and pulled out her wand "Protego!" she whispered.

The spell stoped and the woman gasped in agony on the floor. Greyback lazily looked up. "Oh, so there is another person with magic here. Who is it?"

Heather walked up the stairs to him. "Stop this now! There is no point in harming defenseless people!" she angrily told him ignoring her fear of the situation. There were nine Death Eaters including Greyback.

The werewolf laughed at her, "Who's going to stop me? You?" he chuckled. "You are too weak to stop me!"

Heather could feel her eyes heating up, indicating that they were about to start glowing red, and tried to calm herself down. It would be bad if he found out that she was of demon blood. She took a deep breath and said calmly, "Yes, I am."

Greyback laughed loudly as the entire mall watched in anticipation. One Death Eater walked forward to duel her, but Greyback stopped him. "No. if she thinks she can defeat me I would like to see how powerful this witch is," he told him before walking towards Heather until he was ten feet away from her.

Heather watched as he jeered at her. She watched his movements, anticipating spells he could use. She looked and noticed that he was not going to do anything until she did.

Heather briefly considered killing him for everything he had done, but she thought better of it. It would be better if he would rot in Azkaban. She sent a spell at him nonverbally, _Obscuro!_

A blindfold appeared over the werewolf's eyes causing him to be unable to see. Heather did a quick spell over the two of them to prevent anyone from intervening in their duel. She looked hardly at Greyback before sending another spell nonverbally, _Locomotor Mortis. _Greyback's legs locked together and he fell onto his stomach.

Greyback snarled up at her before sending a curse her way. "Avada Kedavra!" he yelled aiming in her direction. His aim was perfect even though he could not see. She jumped out of the way and landed in a roll. Greyback looked in her direction after locating her with his werewolf senses.

Greyback sent several killing curses at her, and she barely managed to keep from getting hit by doing a back handspring landing in the splits. She jumped up sending a spell his way. "Stupefy!"

Greyback managed to roll out of the way and sent the counter curses to the spells Heather had sent at him to blindfold him and prevent him from seeing.

He stood up and glared at her "You're a better witch than I originally believed," he told her frowning. "but I will not make that mistake again!" he swore before sending a dozen killing curses at her.

Heather had to do a cart wheel, back tuck, and a walk over to keep from getting hit. She found herself being thankful that her demon heritage had helped her get so flexible.

She grabbed her wand and sent several spells at him, "Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!"

Greyback jumped out of the way of all of the spells but one. He quickly stopped the last one "Protego!" he said. everyone in the mall watched in fascination and fear. They could not see how both duelers had not collapsed from exhaustion yet, but they did not know that one was a werewolf and the other half-demon.

The two continued to cast spell after spell at each other, and they were both getting exhausted.

He snarled at Heather "Who are you?"

Heather stood up straighter even though she was getting very worried. "I am the Midnight Rose!" she declared.

Greyback eyes widened before he allowed himself a wolfish grin, "So you are the one who has been killing Death Eaters," he said. "I suppose you are a good dueler, but I don't see how you are such an obstacle in my hunt for one demon," he sneered.

Heather could not help but let her eyes widen at the news of him hunting for a demon. She was almost positive that it was her that he was actually looking for.

"No need to look so shocked," Greyback sneered. "You won't ever have to fight her. You'll already be dead, but I would like to see her rip you to shreds. She is supposed to be one of the best fighters in the world," he told her trying to intimidate her.

Heather wondered whether or not to be smug that the person who was trying to kill her was complimenting her even though he did not realize it.

Greyback continued to talk. "I think that I am better though," he bragged. He was about to continue, but Heather realized the he was completely distracted with his speech.

Heather grinned to herself before mumbling under her breath, "Stupefy!"

Greyback did not see it coming until it was too late. The spell hit him in the middle of his chest, and sent him flying into a wall. He was knocked out.

Heather turned to fight the other Death Eaters, but they were already knocked out. They were getting dragged away by Aurors. Heather noticed that Greyback was also getting dragged away. She looked around and saw Alastor Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt talking to the boy that Heather had run into on her way to the mall.

Heather made her way towards them. When she got there Moody turned to her with a grin, "You are still an excellent fighter then," he complimented. "You better be an Auror eventually," he told her in his gruff voice.

"You know I will be, Alastor," she told him rolling her eyes.

"Greyback and the other Death Eaters will be locked up for a long time thanks to you," Moody told her.

"And no muggles are dead," Kingsley added in his deep, slow voice, "the woman that was tortured will be fine, and none of the muggles will remember anything."

"That's good," she said relieved. Heather then turned to the boy that had gotten them to the mall, "Thank you for flooing them for me," she thanked.

The boy grinned. "It was my pleasure," he told her. "My name is Sirius Black," he continued.

Heather looked at him curiously after hearing his last name. Heather had thought that all of the Black's were followers of Voldemort, but she must have been mistaken. Sirius had gotten her back up, after all. She smiled at him and shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Sirius."

"Do I get your name?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope," she told him not missing his incredulous look as she turned to Moody and Kingsley. "Do you two need anything else?" she asked.

Kingsley looked at how tired she looked after dueling Greyback for nearly an hour and a half. She had sweat on her neck that had run down her face under her mask. She had hair sticking to her skin from sweat. Kingsley looked back into her eyes, "No," he said realizing how exhausted she was. "You go on home, and get some sleep," he told her.

Heather nodded. "Night," she said before apparating home hearing their chorus of "Goodnight" in response.

Heather landed in the living room to the manor, and she walked up the large staircase to Ashton's room. She walked in to see Valentina sitting in a chair in his room asleep.

Heather walked to Ashton, and she checked his vitals. He was fine, and Heather knew that he would be up and about within two days because of the potion that she had used on him.

Heather smiled sleepily before trudging to her room. She laid down on her huge bed, and fell asleep almost instantly.

…

"She did well," Erica commented from her throne in the temple in the sky.

"Yes, she did," Scarlett said with a smile as she flicked her red hair out of her face.

"I think she may be able to actually fix the future," Alter grinned happily from his throne to the left of Scarlett, "Did you see those moves she did? She was like a ninja!" he continued delighted with his sea blue eyes sparkiling.

Rosalie rolled her eyes at her friend. "This is why I am second in command rather than you," she told him. "But she was impressive," she admitted.

"What did you expect?" Vivian asked them.

All of the fates broke into small conversations about how well Heather had done, and how they believed that she would be able to fix the future with their help.

Alter was talking excitedly to Erica about the "ninja-like moves she used" as he put it.

Scarlett rolled her eyes at the Council of Thirteen. "Silence!" she ordered. "Yes, she did some impressive moves, but we still need to keep a close watch on her. We still must guide her along the right path," she reminded them. "Even though her demon heritage makes her senses as good - if not better - than a werewolf near the full moon does not mean that she is invincible."

"It's no wonder why Ambulant Demons are the leaders of all demons. They are insanely powerful," Jasper mumbled to himself.

Anastasia spoke up, "What is the next thing that we need to do?" she asked.

"It is vital that she gets to Hogwarts," Scarlett informed, "She needs to become friends with the Marauders, as well as Severus Snape and Regulus Black."

"Will that work?" Allan asked.

Megan spoke up before Scarlett could. "It should," she told Allan.

Allan nodded, but still seemed doubtful.

"She will do fine," Scarlett told them all. "This is the girl we have watched since she was born," she reminded them. "She will be fine," she reassured.

But Scarlett could not help but wonder, _Will Heather be okay? Will she live through this?_

**A/N: Done! Longest chapter yet! Now I have not said it before so here I go: I like criticism on my stories. It helps me improve my writing. Okay, anyway, I have given you a small amount of Sirius! I hope that I pulled of the duel in this chapter well. Anyway, until next time!**


	6. Boredom and a Cat Mohawk

**A/N: This story has over 200 views! *Victory Dance!* Okay, enough of that. Here comes chapter two! Oh, and I would like to thank Alinthrada GamerGirl and Lupinismywerewolf for adding this story to their favorites list. I would also like to thank RiptidewandHPPJ, TheGirlWhoBelieved3, and previously mentioned Alinthrada GamerGirl and Lupinismywerewolf for following this story. Now, on with the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other recognizable content.**

Chapter 6

Heather sighed. She was beyond bored. It was only a day since Ashton had been injured, and he had woken up earlier that morning. He had been ready to get out of bed, and move around. Valentina, however, was insistent that he stay in bed for another day. Ashton had to listen to her, so he grudgingly accepted the sleeping draught that his mother gave him.

Heather had nothing to do, because of this, and Valentina was working at Saint Mungo's. The only company she had was Isis, who at the moment was curled up on her lap.

Heather had grabbed a thick, black leather bound book from her things, and had written in it after unlocking it, but she soon ran out of things to write in her diary. The only reason she even wrote in diaries, was so that she would not forget anything that happened in the past that was important. She had kept a diary since she was five years old, when a person who was being forced to work for the Death Eaters gave her one.

Since she had begun writing in diaries she had filled many leather bound books. She had about one hundred of them (she was very detailed in her writing) in the genie lamp that had mysteriously shown up many years before. Heather had used the lamp to get away from life around the Death Eaters. She would go into the lamp, and explore the large mansion inside for hours a day until she knew of most of its secrets. She had been careful that she was never caught with the lamp. She did not want it taken away.

Heather took out her wand, so that she could cast some charms to entertain herself. She got distracted by her wand though. It was another thing that she did not know who gave her. It had also appeared with a note that said that it could come in handy.

Her wand always attracted many curious questions. It was not made of wood, unlike many wands. It was made of silver. It had small veins of blue moonstone weaving throughout the silver like vines. At the tip of the wand there was a single slightly pointed sapphire. To add to the unusual likeliness of the wand, it seemed to have been made for an ambidextrous person. This was something that Heather was glad about; she had always been able to use both of her hands for almost everything, from writing to casting spells.

Heather shook away these thoughts as she sighed in boredom once more. She lightly flicked her wand, thinking of happy memories, as she mumbled a spell, "Expecto Patronum!"

A large wolf burst from the silvery-blue light that came from the wand. It walked proudly around the room. Isis got up from Heathers lap and walked towards the patronus. Heather made the wolf playfully circle Isis, and the two started playing. Heather watched grinning from where she sat Indian-style in her bedroom floor. After a few minutes Isis and the patronus stopped chasing each other. The wolf faded from the air, and Isis padded back to Heather.

Heather took the moment to look around her room. It was very clean, but had many shelves around the huge room that were covered in different, random things. The floor was a mix of dark, hard wood floor and white carpet. In one corner of her room she had potion things set up in front of a large storage closet that was filled with completed potions and an abundance of potion ingredients, ranging from common to rare and exotic.

Along one spacious wall, there was a bookshelf crammed full with books. The color scheme of the room was a dark purple, lilac, and black. The room had many windows, and it had a very welcoming feel about it. The room had many muggle things in it including a flat screen TV, computer, and music player. There was an ensuite bathroom connected to the room.

The bathroom was also very large. The toilet was to one side, and a large shower with a door was on another side, as well as a tub large enough to swim in with many nozzles to adjust temperature and soap. On one wall a large mirror covered most of the wall above a spacious area with three sinks, and different things placed neatly on top of it. On the wall that the door was on was different storage cabinets. They contained everything from makeup (though she did not ever wear much) to nail polish to extra toothpaste. The room was well lit, the walls were a soft off-white color, and the floor was made of shiny, white marble.

She also had a huge walk-in closet that had an insane amount of clothes, shoes, and jewelry in it. Valentina loved to drag Heather out of the house every once in a while and have a shopping spree (Heather was always disguised when they went on these).

Overall, Heather thought that her room was amazing, and that she wouldn't want her room any other way, even after years of it being almost the same.

Heather started to rack her brain for something to do. She was tempted to go ride one of the motorcycles or drive one of the cars that she had talked Valentina into getting, but Heather knew that she leaving the house would not be a wise move. Especially since she was the only one to keep an eye on Ashton.

Heather continued to hunt for something to do. She finally had an idea, and she hopped up to do it. She turned the music player in her room on, and she bounded into her closet. She pulled out a canvas, pastels, water color, colored pencils, and any other painting supplies she could think of. She began to paint, with the aid of magic (she was not a very good painter without magic), and Isis watched her curiously as she painted.

After several hours, many brush strokes later, and wand waves later, she was finished with her painting. She stopped humming along with the songs that came on so that she could look at her work. She had painted a sunset above a tropical island, and it was moving. Dolphins were jumping in the water around the island, and monkeys, as well as birds, could be seen on the island. Heather grinned proud of her work, and she felt something rub against her leg. She looked down, and Isis was purring at her feet, as she looked at the painting.

"Now I'm bored again…" Heather mused to herself, "I suppose I should go check on Ashton. You want to come?" she asked Isis.

Heather walked out of the room with Isis following her, and she headed through the huge manor to Ashton's room. She quietly opened the door, and and saw that Ashton was still asleep. She walked into his room, and checked that he was alright. After she was completely positive that he was alright she left the room, making sure to close the door behind Isis and herself.

Heather walked back to her room, and once inside, flopped down on the ground Indian-style, again. _Now what?_

Isis purred and rubbed against Heather's side. She looked down at the cat, and her eyes lit up with a new idea, "I have an idea!" she excitedly told Isis. Isis looked up at her cautiously, but Heather just grinned, "You're probably not going to like this, but oh, well," Heather told her. Isis slowly started to back away from her owner.

Heather plucked Isis up from the ground before the she-cat could escape, and, after standing up, took her to the closet. Heather closed the door so the Isis was unable to escape, and she sat the cat down. Isis seemed to look at her nervously as Heather took out her wand, pointing it in her direction.

Heather silently did several spells, and Isis's fur began to stick up on the top of her head in the form of a Mohawk. Heather then began to shift through her large amount of clothes, and finally pulled out a dark blue, glistening shirt. She waved her wand at the top, and it began to shrink. Heather added a few more enchantments to the shirt before she grabbed Isis, and put the shirt on the solid white she-cat.

The shirt fit her perfectly, and it was actually comfortable for Isis. Heather looked at her work proudly, before continuing. She made the Mohawk on the she-cat's an icy blue that looked similar to Isis's eye color. She then made the tip of the cat's tail the same icy blue color. She grinned and put Isis in front of a mirror in the closet. The she-cat's eyes seemed to widen as she took in her appearance. She looked at Heather seeming shocked.

"You know, sometimes you act much more intelligent than you should," Heather told the cat. She was about to go on, but she heard Valentina enter the manor.

Heather bounded out of the room, and down the stairs, with Isis following close behind. Valentina looked up as she heard her adopted daughter come. She smiled at her. "Hello! How was your d - " she suddenly cut of looking behind Heather. Heather turned around, and saw what her adoptive mother was staring at. Heater turned around in time for Valentina to start talking again, "What did you do to Isis?"

Heather grinned. "I got bored," she innocently told her.

Valentina rolled her eyes, before taking her wand out, and flicking it in the direction of the cat. The Mohawk and dye left the she-cat's fur, but the shirt stayed on her. Valentina nodded at her work. "That's better! I like the shirt," she commented, before realizing something. "Is that the shirt you got last year?"

"Yep," Heather said. "I'll change it back later, but for now it's staying on Isis."

Valentina looked exasperated with Heather, but nodded anyway. "Oh, in a couple of days we'll go to Diagon Alley with Ashton, and get all of your school things," she told her adopted daughter.

Heather nodded, and realized that in less than a week she would be attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

**A/N: Done! I'm sorry that this chapter didn't have much going on, and that it just had some information in it. Anyway, the next chapter will be Diagon Alley and the chapter after that will be the train ride to Hogwarts! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	7. Books and Wands

**A/N: Hello! I should not have to scramble too much to find time to write chapters anymore! I have now moved, and have unpacked everything. I just hope my stepsisters don't drag me out of my room to do random things today, we made fried banana and apples ( it tasted disgusting).**

**I went back and made some changes to some of the previous chapters. Nothing major. I just feel like Heather seemed a bit like a Mary-Sue, because I am still new at writing stories like this.**

**I would like to thank Mad mind flip for following this story.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other recognizable content. If I did I would be rich, and, sadly, I am not.**

Chapter 7

Two days later, Valentina, Ashton and Heather were in Diagon Alley.

Heather looked at all of the shops under the blond bangs that came with her disguise for the day. Her hair went to her shoulder, and was not her regular red, but light blond. Her eyes were a very bright blue color – much like Dumbledore's. Her skin was also more tan than usual. She was wearing a white blouse, blue jean shorts, and flats. Her bag was hanging at her hip.

"Where to first?" Ashton asked.

"Let's go to Gringotts first," Valentina said already walking in the direction. Diagon Alley was crowded, because it was so close to the beginning of the school year. They managed to get through the crowd, and to the bank.

Heather saw the warning in front of the bank that told to not try to break into Gringotts. Every time that she saw that riddle, she had the strangest temptation to try to break in – just to see if she could. She knew that it would be stupid, of course. She was more than aware that there were dragons in the bank. Both the Zabini vault, and the Riddle vault were guarded by dragons.

Heather walked into the bank after her adoptive family. They walked up to the counter were a goblin was watching them. The goblin grinned harshly at them, and asked, "Ah, the Zabini's. Would you like to visit your vault?"

Heather nodded and handed the goblin her key to the vault as well as to the Riddle vault. "The Riddle vault as well," she said. The goblin examined the keys before standing up, and walking from around the counter.

"Follow me," the goblin told them before leading the way to a cart. They all got onto the cart, and as soon as it started to go Heather looked over the edge. She always liked to see as much of the bank as she could.

Several minutes later the cart stopped, and the goblin led them off. A large grey dragon with blurred eyes turned its attention to them. Heather marveled at the beauty of the dragon. She had always loved them, and even though this male dragon was not in the best condition it was still obvious that he was beautiful.

When the goblin took out an instrument, started shaking it, and a ringing noise sounded making the dragon back away frighten, Heather frowned. She hated the way that the dragons were treated. They were like slaves.

Ashton noticed her expression and nudged her, shaking his head. The last time she had argued with the goblins about how they treated the dragons had resulted in a three hour disagreement. Ashton and Valentina had eventually just sat down while the argument took place. They knew that it was no use trying to get her to stop.

Heather turned her attention back to where the goblin pressed his hand to one of the walls. The wall seemed to melt away revealing the mountains of gold inside the Zabini vault. Heather knew most people would be lucky to see that much gold at once, but she was used to it. Her father's vault – her vault, by extension – had at least six times as much gold in it. If Heather ever got full rights to the vault, she would donate a little at a time to charities.

Valentina and Ashton both grabbed handfuls of the golden coins, and shoved them into their coin pouches. Heather waited patiently for them. As soon as they were finished they stepped outside. The goblin locked the vault before unlocking a vault a couple of vaults down – the Riddle vault.

The wall melted away like the first one, and it revealed the huge room on the other side. Valentina and Ashton, having only been in her vault a few times, immediately began to wander about the vault.

"Don't touch anything!" she told them quickly. "Who knows what that raving lunatic could have put in here?"

Valentina and Ashton both nodded, and continued to snoop around.

Heather rolled her eyes at them before she started shoveling ridiculous amounts of galleons into her bag. She did not plan on coming back to her vault for a while, and she never knew when she would need money for something important. When she got enough money to feed a small army for two weeks she stopped grabbing money.

"Let's go," she called to her companions, and they both walked her way with curious looks at many objects that were probably laced with all kinds of dark magic.

The goblin handed them their keys, and took them back to the surface. They thanked him, and left the bank. Valentina headed to Flourish and Blotts, and Ashton and Heather hurried after her.

When they got there Valentina went to get her school books, and Heather wandered to look at some of the new books. When Valentina got back Heather's arms were full of large books that she wanted to read. Ashton's eyes widened as he saw the amount of books in her arm.

"Let me help you with that," he said. He took half of the books from her, and his eyes widened at how heavy they were. He looked at her incredulous. "If half of these books weighs this much, how in the name of Merlin's beard did you hold of them so easily?"

She started at him expressionlessly.

"Oh…" he mumbled, understanding. He had forgotten that she was stronger than most humans because she was at least half-demon.

Heather smirked slightly, before heading to the counter. The woman behind it looked at them shocked when she saw the amount of things they were buying, but she realized that two of them were Zabini's, and she realized that it probably was not unusual for them to buy so much.

She ran her wand over the large stack of books, including her school books, and looked at the price with wide eyes. The woman shook her head slightly. "That will be twenty-two galleons."

Heather grabbed a handful of galleons without counting them, and handed them to the woman. The woman waved her wand over them, and the number twenty-nine glowed above the galleons.

Heather started putting her books into her bottomless bag. "You can keep the change," she told the woman.

The woman looked at her shocked, but nodded thankfully. "Thank you so much!"

Heather nodded as she finished putting the books into her bag. She left the store with her adoptive family, and Ashton was smirking at her. She sighed and turned to him. "What?"

Ashton laughed. "That woman looked like Christmas had come early," he told her.

Heather shrugged. "I have an unreasonable amount of money, anyway."

The two followed Valentina to Ollivanders Wand Shop. They walked in, and Heather wondered why they were there, but she was not going to complain. She did want to get two spare wands to keep on her body, as back-ups.

Ollivander poked his head over the counter, and looked at Heather. "I don't believe that I have ever seen you," he mused.

"You haven't," she told the man who was slightly creepy, "I need two wands, and for this wand to be checked." Valenentina nodded to what she said. It was obviously the entire reason that she had brought them to the shop.

Ollivander gave her a strange look. "You want two more wands?"

Heather nodded, and the man shrugged. He started measuring her as he started to look through stacks of boxes containing wands. After she was measured, he brought her about two hundred wands to test.

After nearly one hour, she had found two wands that she liked.

"Let me check your wand now," he told her.

Ashton, who had been looking bored, perked up at this. Heather did not know why, but then it clicked. Her wand was not normal, and he probably wanted to see the wand makers' reaction. Heather took her wand out of the wand holster at her waist.

Ollivander raised an eyebrow as he took the wand. He sat down and looked at it confused. He examined it carefully, getting more and more shocked. He looked at her bewildered. "It is metal with moonstone running in it. The tip has a sapphire, and there are two feathers in the core. Both look like phoenix feathers, but one is blue."

Heather nodded. She had known that already.

"Where did you get this wand?" he asked her.

"I don't remember," she lied effortlessly. She knew that it would be a bad idea to let him know that it appeared from nowhere with a note that was not signed.

Ollivander frowned, but did not comment. He held the wand, and a large bouquet popped out of the tip. He looked at it for a second before slowly handing the wand back to her. It was easy to tell that he wanted to keep the wand, and study it. "It is in perfect condition."

Heather nodded and paid him for the two wands. After she paid him the sixteen galleons, she left with Valentina and Blaise.

"Do I need anything else?" Heather asked.

Valentina shook her head. "No, you already have everything else."

Heather nodded, and headed to a place where they could apparate out of. The defense on Diagon Alley had been raised since Voldemort had become more active (which had been almost twenty years before then).

The three apparated back inside Zabini Manor. Valentina went to work on a form for her job, while Ashton and Heather went to the huge living room. Isis was already in there, and Heather flopped down beside the she-cat. Ashton sat down on the couch to the left of that one.

"The Dark Lord has decided to teach us how he does that shadow flying thing," Ashton informed her.

"What? This?" She seemed to fade into a black mist, and the mist flew around the room once, before landing where Heather had been sitting. The mist faded, and Heather was once again sitting where she had been.

"Yes. That," Ashton said looking at her. "When did you even learn that?"

Heather thought about it. "I think I was seven….."

Ashton looked at her incredulous. "Seven?"

"Yes. You're talking to the girl who was making potions, and using magic when she was four," Heather reminded him. Voldemort had forced her to grow up faster than she wanted to. She was like an eleven year old – in everything but looks – when she was four years old.

Ashton nodded slightly. "I'm going to go take a nap, okay?"

Heather nodded, and while Ashton headed to his room, she headed to her own. Isis followed her, and Heather decided to go ahead and pack.

**A/N: Sorry that this was a slightly uneventful chapter, but guess what? All of the Marauders will be in the next one!**


	8. The Marauders

**A/N: Hello, my lovely readers! Here is chapter eight! Happy Fourth of July to all of you Americans.**

**Okay, I was going to keep thanking people in my AN's, but I recently read over the rules for this site, again, and I was unsure if was allowed. If not, sorry! From now on I will not thank people in AN's so I am sorry to anyone who wanted to be thanked through anything other than PMing. I'll just give a main one to everyone who reviewed, followed, or added to favorites. **

**I'm going to try to make the chapters a little longer. I realized that unless I put more in the chapters that there will be close to seventy chapters by the time that I complete it.**

**~Shadow**

**Disclaimer: Am I rich? No. Do I own Harry Potter or any other recognizable content? No. Nothing recognizable is mine!**

Chapter 8

Heather grinned as she hugged Valentina and Ashton. They were about to go to the train that would take her to Hogwarts, and she had to say her goodbyes before she got there. It would be a very bad idea to let everybody know that she was living with the Zabini's. Voldemort could figure out and try to kill them.

"Write to me every couple of weeks," Valentina insisted.

Heather smiled. "I will!" she said as she was pulled into a bone crushing hug by the woman. Heather's air supply was getting cut short by her adoptive mother's tight hug.

"I think you're strangling her, Mum," Ashton commented from where he was leaning against the fire place with his arms crossed. He smirked slightly as his mother quickly let his adoptive sister go.

"Okay," Valentina sighed. "Be careful. Don't get into much trouble. If you do get up to something illegal don't get caught!" she told her adopted daughter.

Heather laughed earning a curious look from both Zabinis. She explained her laughter quickly, "Most parents would go 'Don't do anything illegal!', but you're telling me to not get caught doing anything illegal."

Ashton grinned amused thinking about it. Valentina rolled her eyes at her, but pulled her into one more hug. "Be safe," she whispered. Heather pulled out of the hug and looked at Valentina incredulously. "What?"

"I've done things _much _more dangerous than going to Hogwarts. I'll be fine!" she reassured the woman.

"Okay. You'll be fine. Go ahead and go so you can get good seats on the train," Valentina said. Heather nodded, and got ready to apparate to the train station after she picked up Isis from where she was sitting by her feet.

"See you tonight," Ashton grinned. Heather nodded at him.

"Bye!" she waved before turning on the spot.

She distantly heard their calls of "Bye!" as she felt the sensation that came with apparition. She landed on the platform, and looked around at the people scattered around. There were not too many people on it yet because the train was not going to leave for another hour. She had come early to get a good seat on the train.

She smiled down at Isis. "Time for me to start school at Hogwarts!" she told the she-cat before walking to the train.

As she got on the train she could have sworn she heard someone say, "It won't know what hit it." But when she turned around she could not find the source of the voice. She frowned to herself before continuing onto the train.

She walked towards the middle of the train and started looking in compartments. She found one that was empty and pulled open the door. She sat down by the large window looking outside that covered the wall. Isis sat in her lap as Heather rummaged through her only bag: her small one-shoulder bag. She had put all of her things in it. After a minute she pulled out a very soft black cloak. She stood up again while Isis quickly jumped out of her lap, and pulled the cloak over her clothes. She did the clasp on the cloak and pulled the hood over her hair that was down. She sat back down and leaned against the cold window.

When Isis realized that she was going to stay still she climbed back into her lap and curled up. Heather pulled her hood farther over her face before gently stroking the she-cats fur as she dozed off to Isis's purr.

…

About forty minutes later she woke up to the door to the compartment opening again. Heather heard the shuffling of several pairs of feet and the cushioned bench on her side of the compartment moved slightly as someone sat beside her.

"I wonder who she is?" a male voice asked from across from her.

"I dunno. I can't see her face. It's hard enough to tell that she's a girl with that cloak," the boy beside her said. "Her cloak is very expensive, though," he commented.

"She's probably a few years below us," someone to the right of the person across from her told them. She heard a mumbled sound of agreement from the left of the first person to speak.

Heather listened as their conversation turned to Quidditch. As soon as she realized that they were no danger to her she drifted back to sleep.

…

"I want to know who she is."

Heather woke up to those boys talking about her again. The boy sitting beside her grabbed a lock of her hair from under her cloak. She kept herself relaxed, but she was gripping her wand in case someone tried to attack her.

"Her hair is red, but not the same color red as Lily's hair," the boy to her left commented as he dropped her hair.

"Lily is probably with Marlene, Alice, and Dorcas. Maybe Emmeline, Hestia, and Selene. So it's obviously not Lily," The boy to the right of the one in front of her commented.

Heather, getting tired of not knowing their names, decided to speak up, "You could always ask me who I am." As she spoke she pulled the hood of her cloak off of her head.

She opened her eyes in time to see the four boys jump in shock. They had not known that she was awake. She turned her attention to the boy beside her. His black hair stopped above his shoulders and was curly. His stormy gray eyes showed his shock at her sudden statement. "It's not very nice to touch people's hair while they're most likely asleep. It's kind of creepy, actually," she told him.

The boy just gaped at her when she suddenly realized who he was. She managed to keep her shock off of her face because of her ability with Occlumency. It was Sirius Black; the boy who had gotten Kingsley and Moody for her.

The boy across from her finally stopped laughing at his friend. "I'm James Potter," he told her with a charming smile similar to the one Sirius had given her at the mall. James had untidy black hair, and was wearing round black glasses over his hazel eyes.

"Heather," she introduced herself, not giving away her last name. She was not sure if Dumbledore wanted her to tell people that her last name was Riddle.

"I'm Remus, and this is Peter," the boy to the right of James added. He had light brown hair that looked almost sandy blond, and his eyes were a brown color that was almost amber. The boy to the other side of James – Peter – had blond hair, watery blue eyes, and was slightly chubby. When she glanced at him he smiled uncertainly revealing his buck teeth.

"It's nice to meet you Sirius, James, Remus, Peter," she nodded to them all as she said their name. The boys looked at her strangely. "What?" she asked.

"I never told you my name," Sirius told her as the boys looked at her curiously.

"Oh, sorry," Heather said. She scrambled for an answer without letting any emotion on her face. She quickly came up with a lie, and presented it effortlessly, "You come from the Black family. I may not be very familiar with many people around here, but I know of most Purebloods." Heather dimly thought to herself that she really felt bad about lying, but shook the thought off. It was for peoples own good that they did not know her identity. She hated that she was such a good liar, but she had too much practice for it to be hard. It really was helpful, though…

She was shaken from her thoughts when she noticed the hard looks that they were giving her. She looked between their frowns confused. "What?"

"What are your feelings towards muggle-borns?" James asked her slowly.

Heather suddenly realized what the looks were for. She waved off their concern quickly. "I don't care about that Pureblood supremacy junk."

The boys nodded relieved. James and Sirius both exchanged grins.

"So…" James began.

"Do you, by chance, prank?" Sirius finished hopefully as Remus rolled his eyes.

Heather grinned slightly. "It depends on what kind of pranking we're talking about."

"Pranking people who deserve it," James said.

"Having fun without hurting anyone," Sirius continued.

"Sounds good to me," Heather told them smirking as she thought of some ideas for pranks. Remus groaned and put his face in his hands. "What's wrong?" Heather asked him amused.

"More pranks," he mumbled without lifting his face. "They're hopeless. They get too much detention. James is supposed to be acting like the Head Boy that he is."

James grinned. "We're just going to have to be a little more sneaky this year. You any good at sneaking?" he asked Heather.

Heather smirked and leaned back slightly as she stroked Isis' fur. "Sneaking is my specialty," she told them the smirk never leaving her face.

Sirius looked at her for a minute before letting out a bark of laughter. "You look like one of those evil muggles stroking your cat with that evil smirk on your face."

James joined him in his laughter, and Peter quickly followed. Remus lifted his head and smiled amused at her apparent evilness.

…

"Are we there yet?" Sirius asked eagerly as he leaned over Heather to look out the window.

"No, but you're going to crush me if you continue to lean on me," Heather mumbled from underneath him. Sirius just grinned as he moved off of her slightly. He threw an arm over her shoulder and playfully ruffled her hair. She pushed him back into his spot beside her as she rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry Sirius, she's just is a spoilsport," James told his friend as he reached forward to ruffle her hair like Sirius had done.

"Me? A spoilsport? Never," Heather said, dramatically putting a hand over her heart. At James' look she shrugged before jumping out of her seat and onto him. She started giving him a noogie as he tried to push off of him, and she ended up falling into the floor bringing both James and Remus with her.

Sirius laughed at them all dog piled on the floor. At Heather's pout he rolled his eyes and pulled her up. She sat back into her seat, and Isis wandered to Sirius' lap. He pet the she-cat as James and Remus dragged themselves from the floor.

"We're here," Peter quietly commented from where he was looking out the window. The four who had previously been distracted quickly looked out the window. Sirius pushed Heather against the window once again, but Heather was too busy looking at the castle to push him off of her.

"I've never seen the castle from this distance at night," Heather breathed.

"You've been to the castle before?" Remus asked her.

"When?" Sirius added from above her.

"I got to come once during the summer to get a little bit of an idea of how the school is laid out," she half-lied as she continued to look at the castle.

"Oh, okay. What did you think of it?" James asked.

"It was amazing," Heather told him as she continued to look at the quickly approaching castle. The boys stopped looking out the window and started to talk again, and Isis sat down in her lap after Sirius was no longer pushing her against the window. Isis meowed softly as she looked at the castle.

After about five minutes the train stopped, and all of the students started to file off of the train. Sirius grabbed her wrist and dragged her behind him as the boys headed to an empty carriage. When they got to a carriage the boys were starting to get in when Heather lightly tugged herself out of Sirius' grasp, and walked to the front of the carriage.

"Hello," she whispered as she lightly pet the beautiful Thestral that was going to pull the carriage. She lightly felt the skeletal horse's leathery wings, smiling slightly as it leaned into her touch. She moved her hands back to the side of its face, and stroked its cheek.

"What are you doing?" James asked her. He was looking at her as if she had grown a second head.

Sirius frowned at her. "You've seen death," he stated. It wasn't a question.

Heather nodded without saying who – or in her case how _many_ – she had seen die. "You have to?" she asked curiously.

Sirius nodded slightly. "My uncle," he told her.

"Thestrals?" Remus asked them. He had stepped out of the carriage when he saw that the three had not gotten in it yet.

They both nodded and got into the carriage. The five sat the same way that they had in the train compartment and started to talk to one another. Sirius, James, and Peter started to talk about Quidditch and Heather and Remus got into a conversation about different books. She found that she had a lot in common with Remus.

"We're here!" Sirius sang several minutes later. The five got out of the carriage and started to walk to the Great Hall.

"I hope the Sorting Ceremony goes fast. I'm starving!" Sirius said.

"That reminds me. What house are you in?" James asked her. The other four boys looked at her curiously all wondering the same thing.

"I haven't been sorted yet," she said as they walked into the great hall. It was huge with candles floating above four long tables. At the back of the large room there was another table that was slightly above the others. The teachers sat there. At the center of the table was Dumbledore. When he saw Heather he smiled at her, and signaled for a girl to come to him. He told her something, and with a nod she headed to them.

The girl had long red hair that was a more light and brighter shade than Heathers. She had bright emerald green eyes, and she was very pretty. "Lily," she heard James breath slightly. Heather barely kept herself from rolling her eyes. So James was practically in love with the beautiful girl.

Lily stopped in front of the group and was about to say something when James cut her off. "Lily-flower! Will you please go on a date with me?" he asked her hopefully.

"No," she said coldly as she glared at him. She turned away from him to Heather. "Professor Dumbledore wants you to go to his office after dinner. He said that he will sort you then. After that one of the teachers will bring you to your house's common room." With that she left going back to a group of girls who were eagerly watching.

"I'm guessing that that was the Lily that you said had a different shade of red hair?" she asked the boys. James was managing to cover his disappointment with a cocky grin, and Heather sighed. He was not going about getting Lily to like him in the right way. She guessed that he had probably done some rather rude things to cover up his disappointment in the past that made her not like him at all. Or she was just a git.

"That was Lily," Remus agreed. "She's actually really nice. She just hates James and Sirius."

"Hate is a strong word," Sirius said leading them to the table that Lily had sat at. "She just strongly dislikes us for now. She'll come around and love Prongs."

"Prongs?" Heather asked as the five sat down like they had been since they met.

"It's James' nickname," Remus explained.

"Any more nicknames that I should be made aware of?" Heather asked.

"I'm Padfoot," Sirius grinned.

"I'm Wormtail," Peter piped up.

"I'm Moony," Remus told her.

"And together we're the Marauders!" the four boys told her.

Heather grinned. "That's clever. I won't even try to guess why you have those nicknames. I might be scarred for a long time if I figure out," she laughed. Remus nodded a slightly dark look coming over his face. Heather pretended that she did not notice this look and the five fell into comfortable conversation.

After the Sorting Ceremony Heather grinned at the massive amounts of food that appeared. It seemed that her eating habits would not change. She quickly fixed herself a large plate and started to eat it. The Marauders looked at her amused.

"I think you might eat more than Sirius does," Remus commented.

Heather swallowed her mouthful before she answered, "I have a fast metabolism." She really did, too. With the amount of exercise that she did to keep herself in shape she had to eat a lot. She knew that her exercise habits would be changed slightly at Hogwarts, but she did not have to sleep as long as humans. She would be fine with only a few hours of sleep, so she could just exercise at night in the Forbidden Forest as soon as she knew the way around better.

The five ate and Heather listened to the Marauders joking around, and added her own input every once in a while. Before she knew it dinner was coming to an end, and she was heading to the Headmaster's office. When she got there she frowned at the gargoyle in front of the staircase. "He didn't give me the password…"

She thought about it for a minute before she started to guess, "Sherbet Lemon, Cockroach Clusters, Fizzing Wizbees, Toffee Éclair, Bertie Blott's Every Flavour Beans, Cauldron Cake, Chocolate Frog – "

"How about Acid Pops?" a voice sounded behind her. She whirled around to see a boy with greasy black hair, dark black eyes, and very pale skin. He smirked at her slightly before walking past the gargoyle and into the office.

Heather followed him confused about why he was there, but she did not comment on it just like he did not comment on her being there. When they got in there Dumbledore was behind his desk in his large office. In front of the desk was three large comfortable chairs.

Sitting in one of the chairs was a grinning Ashton. "Hello Heather," he said nodding in her direction before nodding in the black haired boys direction. "Severus."

The boy, Severus, nodded back to Ashton before glancing in Heathers direction. "You know her?"

Ashton nodded before Dumbledore spoke up, "Sit down you two."

Heather sat down in the middle chair with Ashton to her right and Severus to her left.

"Heather I will sort you after I talk to the three of you. For now what I say cannot leave this room. Ever. This has to do with your roles in this war. If you look around this room you three are among the most important people in this war. All three of you have a lot of contact with _both_ sides of this war. Your choices could be the difference between who wins this war," Dumbledore told them as they all looked apprehensively between each other.

…

"It was a good touch having Severus turn to the light side so fast, Scarlett," Erica commented as she rested her chin in her hand.

Scarlett nodded. "We will have four more people that will help us with our mission to fix what happened in Harry Potter's time."

"Who?" Alter asked.

"Salazar Slytherin, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw , and Helga Hufflepuff," Scarlett told them. As she spoke four more thrones appeared and the four Hogwarts founders appeared on the thrones.

"That's pretty cool," Anastasia said.

"We've already been made aware of the situation," Godric said.

"We just will have to watch to see how to help you influence destiny," Salazar said.

Rowena and Helga nodded to what the two said.

"Let's continue to watch over them, then," Scarlett said, and with that they turned their attention back to what was happening with Heather.

**A/N: This chapter is done now! I'm going to try to write ahead a little, but I might not have the time… Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	9. Spies

**A/N: Here is the next chapter. I'm working on getting a little ahead, and I have managed to get this chapter ready faster. I just need to get working on the next one. **

**I wanted to go ahead and say that some things in this story did not exist in the Marauders time. There will be technology in some chapters that is recent technology.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**~Shadow**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any other recognizable content.**

Chapter 9

Dumbledore looked between the three, and when they did not say anything he continued, "Severus you can take the charm off of yourself."

Severus frowned, but did what the Headmaster said. He waved his black wand and his appearance changed slightly. His skin that was pasty white got some color in it, his greasy hair lost most of the grease, and his pitch black eyes turned dark green. His overly large nose also became a more normal size. He was handsome.

He shifted uncomfortably when he noticed that Heather was staring at him. "What?" he demanded.

Dumbledore cut in before Heather could say anything. "Severus alters his appearance so that the Dark Lord does not get suspicious about how he does not lose as much sleep as he should. It also makes it where he does not attract any attention from girls so that he can better concentrate," he told her. She briefly wondered why he did not say Voldemort.

He then turned his attention to Severus. "Heather will become a spy soon. She will not be one _yet_, but I need you to let her know everything that is going on among the Death Eaters."

Severus glared at the Headmaster before raising a raised eyebrow. "You're going to let her become a Death Eater? You don't need another person to have to suffer when you already have enough people that are Death Eaters!"

Before things could get out of hand, Heather quickly pulled up her left sleeve. She poked Severus, and pointed at her Dark Mark.

"You're already a Death Eater?" he asked confused. "Then why are you not a spy yet?"

Heather looked at Dumbledore, wondering how much she should tell Severus.

"Tell him everything," Dumbledore told her.

Heather nodded before turning to Severus. "I was meant to become a Death Eater when I was born. I was given the Mark when I was two – "

"You got the Dark Mark when you were two?!" Severus asked with wide eyes.

"Yes," Heather told him patiently.

"Why?" he asked her.

Heather sighed and lifted her head determinedly. "Voldemort is my father."

Both Death Eaters flinched, and they instinctively brought their hands to their left forearms. "Don't say his name, you dunderhead!" Severus hissed his eyes wide with the new information. If he had been drinking something he probably would have spat it everywhere.

Heather was about to apologize for forgetting that other Death Eaters were not used to the burn that came from their Marks if they heard the Dark Lord's name when the fireplace in Dumbledore's office roared.

Moody and Kingsley both stumbled out of the fireplace before anyone could say anything. They both looked grim and paused when they saw who all was in the office.

"Are we interrupting a spy meeting?" Kingsley asked.

"It's fine," Dumbledore assured him. "What did you need?"

"Those Death Eaters from the mall escaped," Moody told him, keeping his magical eye on Heather.

Heather let out an impressive string of curses under her breath before looking up. "I should have just killed Greyback," she groaned.

Severus looked at her curiously through slightly narrowed eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I was about to tell you when they came out of the fireplace. I'm also the Midnight Rose," she told him frowning.

Severus blinked several times. He seemed to be having a hard time adjusting to the all of the new information.

Heather could not blame him. If the positions had been reversed she would have been getting a headache already, and there was still more things for him to be made aware of.

"They managed to knock out the Aurors that were taking them to Azkaban. They stole their wands back," Moody continued.

"One Auror is dead," Kingsley added. "It was David," he continued when he saw the questioning looks that he was getting.

The four frowned at the news, but did not comment.

"That was all we needed to tell you, so we'll be on our way. We both have a lot of paperwork to do now," Kingsley told them with a frown.

"Goodbye," the four said as the two Aurors disappeared into the fireplace.

Severus immediately turned to Heather. "So let me get this straight. You're the Dark Lord's daughter, _and_ you're the Midnight Rose?"

Heather nodded. "And the Dark Lord is an Ambulant Demon making me at least half-demon."

Severus looked like he was going to pass out. "He's a demon?!" he demanded looking slightly sick.

"You could have been less blunt," Ashton observed.

"What would be the fun in that, though?" Heather grinned showing her straight teeth.

Severus put his head in his hands. "We're doomed!"

"Not necessarily," Dumbledore said. "This is why I need the three of you to work together. What is Regulus' position right now?"

Severus lifted his face. "I'll work with them," he told the old man. "It's hard to tell, but Regulus seems to doubt the Dark Lord's ways, and I can't tell if he will spy for us anytime soon. He has good skills with Occlumency. It was hard to even find his doubt. Even when he is alone he still is using Occlumency – just not as strongly."

Heather spoke up, "Are we talking about Regulus Black?"

Dumbledore nodded, and she continued, "I met his brother, Sirius, but I have not met him yet. Sirius does not seem to be evil, though."

"Sirius isn't," Dumbledore said, ignoring Severus' scowl at the mention of Sirius. "But he is disowned. Regulus has been trying to make up for his brother by being the perfect Pureblood child."

Heather nodded thoughtfully. "I'll look into it."

Dumbledore nodded, not expecting anything less. "You three spend the next while getting to know each other better," he told them before he left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Well let's get to know each other!" Ashton said cheerily as the other two spies rolled their eyes.

…

"I'm getting sleepy," Heather sighed as she leaned on Ashton's shoulder.

The three spies had moved to a soft couch in the office, and had spent the past hour and a half getting to know each other. Really, it was just Severus and Heather getting to know each other while Ashton added random facts that he knew about the two.

Severus and Heather got along well. They had been through some things that were similar so they had things to relate to each other, and they both had a similar sense of humor.

The three spies wanted to go to sleep, though, and Heather _still_ had to be sorted. They also had to get her back story straight, as well as how Severus and Heather were to act around each other in public.

Ashton bumped his shoulder against her making her fall onto Severus' shoulder rather than her adoptive brother's. "My shoulder is sore. Sleep on Severus," he said as he leaned against her. Severus was pushed against the arm of the couch.

Heather could imagine Severus rolling his eyes as he responded, "While I don't care if she falls asleep on me – mainly because with the spy thing we will most likely have to get used to being close to each other – but you are her brother, so shouldn't you let her sleep on you? And you're heavy, Ashton," he added when the other boy did not stop leaning on Heather.

Ashton was about to say something when the door opened and Dumbledore walked in with the Prewett twins.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Fabian asked with a slight smirk as he looked at the three.

"You three are getting cozy," Gideon added with a grin at his twin.

"Ah, good! You three are getting along then," Dumbledore said after he closed the door. He turned his twinkling blue eyes on them.

Dumbledore walked to a stool by a wall and picked up an old hat. "Let's get you sorted, then," he said as he held the hat towards her.

Heather pushed Ashton off of her, and moved her head from Severus' shoulder. She took the hat from the old man after moving to a black leather armchair, and put it on her head. She had already been told how people were sorted.

The hat sat on her head, and she leaned back against the couch as she ignored the expectant looks she was getting.

"Well you are going to be difficult to sort, aren't you?" a quiet voice mused. Even though Heather expected the voice she still jumped slightly.

"You have been through much, and you have qualities that could put you in any house. You are cunning, brave, wise, and loyal," the hat continued. "Where do you believe you should be put?"

"It doesn't matter to me," Heather told it, ignoring the curious looks she was receiving.

"Hmm, you are probably the most difficult person I have ever sorted," the hat told her. "Your magic is very powerful, and you have magic that you do not even know about yet. You are more powerful than you believe. Most people would be unable to comprehend your potential. I suspect that it has something to do with the Council…" the hat mused to itself.

"What is the Council?" Heather asked. Everyone in the room looked at her curiously, and Dumbledore got a knowing look in his eyes. _Weird._

"You will find out when the time comes," the hat told her before going back to attempting to sort her. "I don't think that you would do as well as you could if you were in Hufflepuff, even though you are very loyal. You are not trusting enough. It takes you a while to trust people, but when you do you never betray them."

The hat continued to mumble things to her after it narrowed what house she would do best in.

After a while it made another decision, "You could not meet your full potential in Ravenclaw. You are very smart, but they carefully examine all possible outcomes before doing something. Sometimes they miss the chance because they are over examining things. You do not do this most of the time. You make choices quickly, and you do not spend all of your time learning from books. You try to learn by experience and observance."

Heather pulled her knees to her chest as the hat started to examine her memories again. It was bringing up some memories that she was not particularly fond of.

After what seemed like an eternity it seemed to be ready to finally sort her. "You would have done well in Slytherin, but I don't think that that would work as well as it could. You have many characteristics that could put you there, though. You are very sly, and you are good at scheming. You have a talent for lying that can get you out of tough spots, and you have an impressive ability with sneaking – something that probably has to do with the council."

Heather frowned. That was the second time this Council was mentioned, and she wanted to know who they were. It seemed that they were important.

"Oh, they are important, but be patient. I know you can be patient. They will let you know who they are when they think you are ready. Your mother will want to see you eventually."

"My mother," Heather breathed. She knew almost nothing of her mother. All that she knew was that her mother had disappeared sometime after Heather had been born. Heather had always wanted to know what had happened to her mother; why had she had left Heather with her father.

"You will learn in time. Now, I have decided where you should be sorted. You are brave, and from what I have seen you are selfless. You put others before yourself, and you have nerve. You're not afraid to speak your mind if it does not have consequences for others. You will be able to gain the trust of many important people, and you will be able to affect the war even more by being in this house. You will be in," the hat paused before speaking loudly for everyone in the room to hear. "GRYFFINDOR!"

Everyone in the room jumped. Fabian and Gideon had been playing Exploding Snap, and they both had a look similar to a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Dumbledore had been filling out paperwork, and Severus and Ashton had both fallen asleep.

"Congratulations," Ashton mumbled as he regained his bearings.

"You're not in my house," Severus frowned. "Great," he grumbled as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"How long did that take?" she asked them.

Dumbledore looked at his watch. "Almost two hours."

"Two hours," Heather mouthed. It did not seem like it had taken _that_ long.

"Now time to get everything arranged! Fabian and Gideon will take you to the Gryffindor Common Room after we finish arrangements. First, we need to decide your back story, Heather."

After thinking about it for a minute, Heather got an idea. "What if since it is already decided that I will be a Pureblood, and previously home schooled, what if my family moved to America before I was born to escape this war. Since MoldyShorts is recruiting in America now, I can say that my family decided that it would be safer for me to come to Hogwarts," she suggested.

The two other Death Eaters flinched slightly at her nickname for Voldemort, but they did not comment because their Dark Marks did not burn them.

Dumbledore thought about it. "That is a good idea. You can keep your last name. There are a few Purebloods in Australia with your last name so no one will be suspicious."

Heather nodded. "How will I need to act around Severus in public?"

"It depends. Have you made friends with any Gryffindors yet?"

Heather nodded. "The Marauders."

Severus scowled at the mention of them, and Dumbledore decided quickly how they needed to act in public. "You two will have to act like you hate each other. I know that you both are excellent actors, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem. You will just have to figure out a way to schedule meetings with each other. And Heather, will you teach Severus some of your fighting. He's used to dueling, but not hand to hand combat. "

Heather and Severus both nodded to what the Headmaster said.

"And Heather," Dumbledore began. "Try to guide the Marauders into becoming more mature. They are nice boys, but they can be immature at times. All four of them want to become Order members once they leave school, but they are not ready yet. Under your guidance they will reach to their full potential," he told her.

Heather nodded, and she suddenly remembered something. "Oh, and can I please wear the boys trouser part of the uniform?" she asked giving the Headmaster puppy dog eyes.

Severus looked at her confused. "Why do you want to wear trousers?"

"So that I can move around easier. How am I supposed to climb or anything like that if I'm wearing a skirt?"

Dumbledore nodded slowly. "Yes, I'll let the teachers know. I'll just have to let girls wear the guys' uniform so that you can. You have good reasons. I've seen the things that you do when you fight, so I know that it would be better if you wore trousers."

Heather grinned. "Thank you!"

Severus and Ashton rolled their eyes at her excitement.

Heather was about to continue, but a large crash echoed around the office. Heather turned her body towards the noise as she grabbed her wand.

There was no danger, though. Gideon had just fallen out of his chair, and his twin was laughing at him. On the table in front of his Gideon's chair, Isis was sitting as she looked down at the redhead.

It did not take long for Heather to figure out what had happened, and she quickly joined Fabian in his laughter. The others also quickly figured out what had happened, and they joined the redheads in their laughter.

After a minute, Gideon pulled himself up and back into his chair. He playfully glared at Isis. "I'm guessing that this cat is yours, Heather?" he asked without looking at her.

"Yep!" she grinned.

Severus rolled his eyes. "You would have a cat that would scare everyone."

"I would, wouldn't I?" she smirked slightly.

Fabian looked at her contemplatively. "I want to see your most evil smirk."

Heather looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but she complied. She leaned her elbow against the side of the armchair as she rested her hand under her chin. She crossed her legs, and, as she leaned against the side of the chair, she lifted her chin confidently. She looked slightly down her nose at everyone in the room, and she let an evil smirk adorn her face.

Everyone in the room looked at her with wide eyes. Her dark clothes just added gave a boost to how evil she looked in that moment.

"You could give Morgana a run for her money," Severus said impressed.

Heather broke her façade as her face broke into a grin. She uncrossed her legs, and leaned back into her seat. "That is the best compliment that I have _ever_ gotten about my smirk. Giving _Morgana _a run for her money is almost impossible in the world of smirking!" she said triumphantly.

"You are _way_ too excited about this," Gideon commented as he turned his attention back to Isis.

The she-cat was getting up, though. She padded across the room to Heather, and jumped into her lap.

Fabian frowned slightly. "How do you never seem to have white fur on your clothes? Most of the time I see you you're wearing black for one reason or another, and I know Isis sits in your lap a lot. So why do you not get her fur all over you?"

"I keep a charm on her so that all fur that she sheds goes into a fireplace in the Manor."

Fabian nodded just as Dumbledore was looking at his watch. The Headmaster looked up at them. "It's late. Fabian, Gideon take Heather to Gryffindor's Common Room. Ashton you need to go on home. Severus you need to head to the dungeons. Everyone say your goodbyes," Dumbledore told them.

Heather stood up and hugged Ashton. "See you sometime soon."

Ashton grinned at her and ruffled her hair. "Bye, Heather," he told her before turning his attention to everyone else. "Bye!"

With that he left through the Floo as he heard the "Goodbye"s following him.

"I'll see you whenever we have a meeting," Severus said, and with a nod he left.

Fabian, Gideon, and Heather – with Isis in her arms – then headed to the door of Headmaster's office.

"Goodnight, you three," Dumbledore told them before they left.

"Night!" they chorused as they closed the door.

They walked in silence as they went through the cold halls. Heather walked between the two Defense Against the Dark Arts Professors, and her black cloak billowed behind her.

After several minutes they came to a stop in front of a painting of a large woman. Gideon stepped forward slightly. "This is the Fat Lady. She guards Gryffindor Tower," he told Heather. "The password's 'Lion Den'."

The Fat Lady's painting opened revealing the Gryffindor Common Room. Heather stepped inside with the twins following her. They led her to a staircase in the room, and she headed up it after saying her goodnights.

She went into a room that had all of the lights off. Her eyes quickly adjusted though, and she went to the only empty bed in the room. She sat Isis down, and pulled off her cloak and shoes. She curled up under the red and gold covers after she closed the curtains around herself. Isis laid on her side, and the redhead fell asleep, tired after the long day.

…

"Is the Sorting Hat supposed to be telling her anything about the Council of Thirteen?" Helga asked.

"No," Bernard shook his head frowning.

"But she will need to know about us eventually, so the little bit she knows now shouldn't harm anything," Scarlett said.

Salazar and Godric were busy glaring at each other.

"You two are acting like four year olds," Rowena told them.

"But she's in _Gryffindor_!" Salazar spat.

Scarlett sighed. "Quiet! It is better that she is in Gryffindor so that she will have more people who will be in the Order to trust her, and by extension Severus – as well as Regulus, eventually."

Rosalie nodded. "It will all be better in the end. Besides Salazar, the Sorting Hat thought that she would have done well in Slytherin, as well."

Salazar grudgingly nodded.

**A/N: In case you did not pick up on it, Heather's mother is in the Council of Thirteen. I am almost 100% positive about who it will be, but who do you think should be her mother? **


	10. Set Into Motion

**A/N: I hope you enjoy.**

**~Shadow**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other recognizable content.**

Chapter 10:

"Shh!" someone hissed from the end of the bed.

Heather groggily woke up to whispers and shuffling coming from the foot of her bed. As soon as she realized what was going on, she grabbed the wand she had under her pillow and sneakily moved her other hand to her waist where she had a dagger that she kept on her body while she slept because of a bad experience when she had been younger.

Heather clenched her wand in her hand and slid it on her bed until it barely poked out from under the pillow towards the intruders.

"Who is she?" a girl whispered.

"She wasn't here when we went to sleep last night," another girl commented.

"Oh!" a slightly familiar exclaimed quietly. "She's that girl that was with the Marauders yesterday!"

Heather slightly relaxed as she remembered the memories from the following day. She was in the Seventh Year Girls Dormitory. _I probably should let them know I'm awake now…_

"She's waking up!" one of the girls said. Heather opened her eyes to see a tall blond girl with bright blue eyes pointing at her.

"It's rude to point," the familiar girl beside her reprimanded. It was the redhead, Lily. Standing on the blonds other side was a short girl with brown hair and light blue eyes that shone with excitement. Beside Lily was a tall girl with raven hair and grey eyes.

"Er, hello?" Heather said wondering why they felt the need to gather at the end of her bed while they talked. They could have just gone to one of the other beds. Heather pondered on this as she slid her dagger under her pillow.

Hey! I'm Alice!" the short, brown-haired girl excitedly introduced herself. She seemed like a very bubbly person.

"I'm Dorcas," the tall girl smiled welcomingly. Heather hesitantly returned the smile.

"I'm Marlene," the last girl told her as she frowned. Marlene narrowed her eyes as she looked at her, and Heather got the feeling that the girl – Marlene – did not like her for some reason.

Heather was shook out of her thoughts by the redhead. "And I'm Lily."

She smiled at the four girls and introduced herself. "I'm Heather." She then glanced around the room and noticed something. "There are only four beds in here. Did all of you sleep in here last night?" she asked confused. She had been sleeping in one of the beds, meaning that only three beds had been left. But there were four other girls in the room.

Lily shook her head. "No, I'm Head Girl so I have a room that connects to the Heads Common Room. The Head Boy has a room that connects to the Heads Common Room, and we share it."

"Isn't James the Head Boy?" Heather asked.

Lily's expression hardened. "Yes," she spat. "I have to share a Common Room with that toe rag."

Heather smirked slightly. "I take it that you don't like him then."

Lily opened her mouth to say something, but Dorcas cut in, "Oh, no. She loves him. She just doesn't realize it yet."

Lily glared furiously at her friend, emerald eyes flashing. "I do not love James Potter! I hate him!"

"Are you starting seventh year?" Alice asked, stopping her friends from arguing any more.

Heather smiled. "Yes. I was home schooled before this, but my parents decided that it would be a better idea for me to continue my education at Hogwarts."

Marlene snorted to herself. All of the other girls looked at her curiously, but she just rolled her eyes before leaving the room after grabbing her bag. Heather watched her go confusedly.

"Don't mind her," Alice told her. "She's just bitter because Sirius broke up with her at the end of last year, and she thinks that you will 'steal' him from her."

Heather laughed. "Me? Steal Sirius? That's hilarious! Just from what I've seen yesterday I think it's safe to say that I will not be 'stealing' him from anyone."

"It's just how Marlene is," Lily assured her. "It'll pass over in a few days."

Heather nodded, and the other three girls sat down on her bed. Dorcas suddenly got a grin on her face. "So….. did you like the Marauders?"

"Er….. yes. They were easy to get along with, and they were very nice."

As Dorcas had spoken, Lily glanced down at her watch, and gasped. "We only have thirty minutes to get ready and eat breakfast!"

The girls eyes widened, and they all quickly jumped up before putting on their Hogwart's uniform (Heather put on trousers). The four quickly finished getting ready before grabbing their bags and running out of the room towards what Heather was pretty positive was the Great Hall.

"Where is your bag?" Lily asked her as they rushed through the castle.

Heather held up her small bad and waved it slightly before letting the bag fall back over her body, stopping at her hip. "It has an undetectable extension charm on it," she explained at the girls confused expressions.

They slowed down to a walk when they finally came into sight of the Great Hall. They were almost there when three more girls walked towards them. From their outfits, Heather came to the easy conclusion that two of them were Ravenclaws and one was a Hufflepuff.

"There you are!" the Hufflepuff exclaimed. She had brown hair and brown eyes.

"We've been looking everywhere!" the Ravenclaw with platinum blond hair and blue eyes said.

"Who are you?" the other Ravenclaw with black hair and blue eyes asked Heather when she saw her. She was not rude with her question, though.

"I'm Heather. I just started Hogwarts this year because I was homeschooled before," Heather told the trio.

"I'm Hestia," the girl who asked her who she was responded.

"My name's Emmeline!" the first girl to talk grinned.

"I'm Selene," the girl with white-blond hair added with a smile.

"It's nice to meet you three," Heather told the girls.

The trio grinned at her before Emmeline asked the question that seemed to be on all three of the girls minds, "Where is Marlene?"

Lily sighed. "She's still in a bad mood about the whole Sirius thing," the redhead told her friends as they reached the Great Hall.

Hestia sighed. "I'm sure she'll come around."

Selene nodded. "How about we all meet in your Common Room tonight, Lily?"

Lily thought about it for a moment before nodding.

"Great! We'll see you later!" Emmeline told her as the three non-Gryffindors went to their tables.

The Gryffindors walked to their table. Marlene was frowning down at her breakfast, and the girls headed towards her. Heather was to the side of the group when someone grabbed her wrist, and pulled her down to the bench with surprising strength.

Heather reacted instinctually, and grabbed the person's wrist with her free hand before twisting it. The person dropped her wrist as they felt a strike of pain in their own. The person flinched, and Heather looked at her attacker to see one Sirius Black looking at her shocked.

Heather instantly dropped his wrist, glad that she had not gone ahead and broken it. Sirius rubbed his sore wrist as he frowned at her. "That hurt."

"Sorry," Heather smiled sheepishly.

"You deserved it, mate," James told his friend from across the table.

"I'm sure you've done something to deserve it as well, Potter," Lily's voice came from behind her. Heather turned to see all the three Gryffindors that she had walked down to breakfast with.

"Let her come with us, Sirius," Dorcas sighed. It seemed that she did not want to have to deal with the four Marauders.

Sirius pouted before pulling Heather teasingly into a possessive hug.

Remus sighed from the other side of the table as he looked up from his book. "Let her leave if she wants to, Padfoot," he told his fellow Marauder.

Sirius frowned, but let her go. Heather rolled her eyes at the boy, and turned to the girls. "It's fine. I'll stay with the buffoons for breakfast," she told them.

"'Buffoons'? The Marauders are never buffoons!" Peter dramatically said as he looked up from his cheese omelet.

The girls looked cautiously between the boy before Lily sighed. "Okay, but try not to let them do anything stupid."

"Us? Do anything stupid? When have I ever done anything stupid, Lily-flower?" James asked.

Lily gave him a hard look before going to sit by Marlene with the two other girls following. Marlene was glaring at Heather when they met eyes. Heather frowned and looked away. She was still frowning as she put breakfast onto her plate.

"You don't have to eat with us if you don't want to," Remus told her, noticing her frown.

Heather looked up startled. "Oh, no, I'm fine. I just am wondering why Marlene over there is trying to catch me on fire with her eyes."

The Marauders looked at the glaring girl before turning their attention back to the redhead sitting beside Sirius.

Sirius suddenly grinned. "Fire, aye?"

James got a smirk on his face as he shared a look with Sirius. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Heather and Peter looked between the two curiously as Remus banged his head on the table.

The two mischievous boys looked between each other before James began, "Well, if you're going to hang around with us you need a nickname."

"And 'Fire' actually suits you, with your red hair and all," Sirius continued.

"So, we hereby name you 'Fire'!" James finished.

Heather smirked amused as she looked between the two. Remus was still banging his head on the table.

"You may even become a Marauder eventually!" James added as he put a hand between Remus' head and the table.

"Sounds interesting…" she smirked as she noticed many eyes in the Great Hall had been on the Marauders since they had gotten there. _They must pull good pranks….._

…

"Here are your timetables!" Professor Mcgonagall said as she passed them out.

Heather glanced down at hers, and saw that she had NEWT potions with Slytherin and Gryffindor. _Hmm….. I wonder if Severus has that class?_

Heather glanced at Sirius' timetable, and saw that he also had potions first thing. Good, she just had to follow him to the potions classroom. Easy enough.

As soon as the Marauders stood up, she quickly followed. They walked out of the Great Hall, and down to the cold dungeon. Even though Heather was fond of the cold, she still shivered and pulled her robes tighter over herself.

However, she need not worry about that as when a round bellied man opened a door and herded them into a classroom that was a comfortable, slightly warm, temperature. Heather sat at a table towards the front of the room with the Marauders as the teacher began his speech.

"We have a new student among ourselves. Heather Riddle," he introduced her to the class before continuing. "And as you all know I am Professor Slughorn. Now, every one of you in this room has a talent for potions. This year is the NEWT year – the most important year of them all. It is important that you do well, as it will shape your future!" he told them.

"I won't go too crazy on this speech, as I know that the other teachers will. So let's get right to this. For this year you will be in groups of two, and I will be assigning you partner," he said, only to be greeted by groans. "Now, now. I have set it up where it will match you to the person that you will work best with!" he said as he flicked his wand towards the board at the front of the room.

Many names appeared on it, and Heather quickly looked for her own. Ah ha!

_Heather Riddle – Severus Snape_

Heather managed to keep the grin off of her face as she moved to the table that she was assigned to. Severus was already moving there as well with his glamour charm, and Heather could see the pitying looks that the Marauders were giving her.

She ignored the looks as she sat down at her new table, and put her required potion supplies on the table in front of her. Severus silently did the same thing. The quite in the room was broken by Lily begging Professor Slughorn to let her switch partners. Heather looked up, and let a smirk slide onto her face.

Lily and James were partners. James seemed triumphant, and Lily was horrified. Slughorn calmly told her that they would work well together, and she numbly walked over to James. Remus and Sirius sniggered at the two from their table, while Peter and Alice just shook their heads as they watched. Marlene and Dorcas grinned as they looked at the two partners.

Several of the Slytherins in the classroom just looked annoyed, and Severus was among them. Heather continued to smirk as she looked at the instructions that Slughorn had put on the board before pulling out her textbook.

She flipped it to the page for Pepper-up Potion, and with Severus' help, they began the potion. They only talked every once in a while, and made sure to look hostile around each other. Every once in a while one of the Gryffindors would send a pitying look her way.

Severus seemed to have done a good job in playing his role as an evil person.

…

Heather grabbed books off of the shelves in the large library that she thought would help with her homework for Transfiguration. After grabbing everything she thought could help, and sitting it on a table, she sat down. She had to write a foot about Animagi.

She took out her ink and quill and started skimming through some of the books. She already knew most of the information. When she was eleven her father had made her study everything about Animagi with the hope that she would be able to become one. For some reason she had been unable to. Her punishment for her inability was thirty minutes under the Cruciatus Curse every day for six months.

Heather shuddered remembering how her muscles had twitched almost constantly during that time. She had to have help eating sometimes because of her muscles having spasms from being under the curse for long periods of time. The only good thing about those months was that she had built a slight resistance to the curse, and she had learned how to hide her pain rather well.

Heather sighed as she started writing down her essay. Her quill quickly went across the paper, and ink flew slightly in her hurry to finish. In just a few hours she would be meeting with the girls, and she wanted some free time before that. She wanted to read everything in the library even if it meant talking Dumbledore into letting her come after she graduated.

Heather bit her quill as she looked at the parchment in front of her. She had about four inches left, and she did not know what to write…..

Well, she could always write about the recorded Animagi of the century, and about how there were probably many illegal ones…..

Heather got to writing, and was just finishing the last line when someone sat down beside her. She pulled her wand out of the holster she had on her forearm, and she quickly turned it on the person beside her.

It was just Remus, though. He looked at her with raised eyebrows, and she smiled sheepishly as she put her wand back into its holster. She was just glad that she had not pulled one of her daggers on him. That would have been harder to explain.

"Hello," Remus greeted as he pulled out his finished Transfiguration essay. "Do you want to me check over yours while you check over mine?"

Heather grinned. "Sure," she agreed as they traded essays.

Remus' essay was well put together, had few mistakes, and also made her more aware of his intelligence. _Note to self: Don't let Remus suspect me being half-demon. He will probably put any pieces together._

After a while they both finished reading over each other's essays, and they fell into a comfortable conversation. They talked about their hobbies, goals, dreams, and everything inbetween.

…

"She has arrived at Hogwarts," a white-haired centaur told the other two centaurs in the middle of a clearing.

Even though the clearing was in the forbidden forest it was beautiful. There were flowers everywhere and many butterflies. A few Unicorns were also at the side of the meadow. The sun came down brightly on the three centaurs, and the male and female centaur in the middle of the clearing looked at the white-haired centaur who had just delivered the news.

"It is the decision of the Fates that we help the child," the male centaur frowned. His muscles could be seen moving under his brown fur and bare chest as he shifted. The centaur had a crown made of branches in his hair, and he had a bow and quiver slung over his back.

"We must do what they want," the female centaur beside him murmured. Her hair was pitch black. Her hair on her head was in elegant curls, and hung almost to her belly button. She had a piece of black fabric (much like a tube top) that covered everything necessary. The centaur's sapphire eyes sparkled with determination, and her crown made her the perfect image of a determined queen.

"Do you know when our services will be required?" the King of the Forbidden Forrest Centaurs asked. He was frowning, and was worried about his brethren if they helped in the coming war. But he was no fool. He knew that they would suffer even more if the Dark Lord ruled over the land. If they had to help the Dark Princess to become safe, then so be it.

"I am unsure. But Mars burns brighter than ever. The war is close to its peak," the white centaur said grimly.

The King Of Centaurs nodded once, dismissing the white-haired centaur.

…

"The Council of Thirteen have spoken to me," a pale woman with brown hair informed. She stood in a fancy hall in front of two thrones made of wood and other things of nature. The woman who spoke did not seem to be human, though. No one in the room seemed human, in fact.

They all were too beautiful to be human, and held themselves with a grace humans were incapable of. Their eyes held a look of great intelligence, and they all had clothes that seemed to flow with them.

No, they were not human. They were Wood Elves.

The male elf on one of the thrones frowned. His hair was platinum blond, and fell almost to his waist. His clothes were blue, and his crown was neatly on his head. The female elf on the throne beside him sat up even more straight at the news. Her pitch black hair made her crown stand out and her skin seem to glow, her emerald green eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"What did they say?" the king asked.

"They told me that our services would soon be required by the Dark Princess, and that we are to help her," the woman grimly told her king.

"How long from now?" the queen asked.

"They cannot tell for sure. They said within the next year, though."

The king nodded thoughtfully to himself. "Have the army train for this. We must be prepared!"

"Of course," the elf nodded before hurrying out of the room. She grabbed a horn from her waist and blew into it as she rushed to the training grounds.

…

"What is so urgent?" a male goblin asked as he settled himself in the office of the Director of Gringotts.

The office was expensively decorated, and had many precious artifacts inside it. The visiting goblin paid no attention to this, though. His stern eyes were on the younger goblin that was in charge of Gringotts.

"We were visited by the Fates," the Director began.

"What?! Is what they told us about those many years ago happening?" the goblin demanded.

"I'm afraid it will be happening soon," the Director informed him.

"Do they want me to work on completing that favor now?"

"They said as soon as possible," the Director said.

The goblin quickly stood up. "Of course. I must get back to the colonies I rule over. They will not like this idea much, but they will have no choice. We cannot remain neutral this time. I will contact the Wood elves about completing the favor."

The Director of Gringotts nodded, and the ruler of many goblins exited the room intent on completing his mission.

…

"Is everyone here?" a man's deep voice sounded in a dark room that was miles underneath the ground. The only light came from a round pool in the ground

"Yes," nine voices answered the voice.

"Good," the man said, and fires suddenly lit in the cobblestone chamber sending light licking the walls in time with the flames motions.

The chamber was round with ten throne-like-chairs that were evenly spaced and mended into the wall slightly. In between each of the chairs was a large bowl of fire that was about a foot in diameter. In the center of the room there was a circular pool of what appeared to be magma with a foot of water directly on top of it that had caused the initial light. The magma and water strangely did not mix.

In each of the ten chairs was a person in black robes, a cloak with a hood, gloves, and a mask. It was impossible to tell who was female and who was male by looking at them.

"I have called you here today because I have acquired more news about the Dark Princess. We will begin to send her information very soon. The Council of Thirteen has requested that we begin to help the half-demon," the man continued.

The people in the room started murmuring to each other.

"Silence!" the man demanded and at once the people in the room became quiet. "We have the resources, and the information to become a powerful ally for the fight to kill Voldemort. We are all Unspeakables, we all have positions throughout the entire Ministry, and none of us shall fall to that demons wicked ways! We will offer the half-demon a place among us!"

The people in the chamber nodded in agreement.

"Now, are we going to help the Dark Princess win this war?"

"Aye!" they all yelled. At their loud agreement a spiral about two feet in diameter rised to the ceiling, and fire from the bowl enthusiastically shot to the spiral. A great burst of light filled the room with blinding light and when it cleared the bowls of fire went out, leaving the room dark except for the pool of lava.

No one remained in the room.

…

A large shadow crossed over a wizard city, and the people looked up to see what had caused such a massive shadow. There were gasps heard throughout the entire city, and many people fainted while the others were left with wide eyes.

A huge dragon had just flown over the city. But what made it even worse, was that it was a type of dragon that was supposed to have been extinct since Merlin's time. It was a Gemstone Dragon. The dragon had gotten the name because their scales always looked like they were some kind of gemstone. The dragon had been the only dragon that could be tamed, but only one person in existence could tame each one. The moment they were born, they were bonded to someone. The dragon just had to find their Rider.

The Gemstone Dragon that had just flown over the city had dark purple scales that looked like they could blend in easily with the night sky. From the sheer size of the dragon it must have been hundreds of years old.

Once the dragon got to the edge of the city it flew over the large mountain range there. Right before it got over, though, a large blue bird joined it. It's feathers seemed to be glowing, and it started to fly just above the Gemstone Dragon. Many people could of sworn that it looked like a blue phoenix.

As soon as the two extraordinary creatures were out of sight people started to talk with rapid Australian accents.

The only thing that they could figure out was that the two creatures were heading in the general direction of Europe.

…

"Lady Scarlett contacted me," Nicholas Flamel told his wife, Perenelle.

With a loud gasp she whirled around to face him. "You've had contact with the Council? We haven't heard from them in more than a hundred years!"

Nicholas nodded. "It's about what we discussed last time we talked to them. It's beginning," he said grimly.

Perenelle frowned. "We must find this child, and help train her to her full potential."

Nicholas nodded again. "She is at Hogwarts for now. She will contact us once it is time for us to assist her in her preparations for the struggle ahead."

Perenelle hummed thoughtfully. "We should talk to Albus. We need to meet her before the changes take place so that she will be more comfortable with our assistance."

Nicholas nodded once before walking to the fireplace in their comfortable home. He and his wife each grabbed some Floo powder and disappeared into the green flames.

"Hogwarts Headmaster's Office!"

…

"Everything has been set into motion," Scarlett told the people in the temple with her.

"You have planned this out better than I originally anticipated," Salazar admitted. The other three Hogwarts Founders nodded hesitantly.

"As long as we have planned ahead I'm sure that we'll be fine," Alter grinned. "I just love watching people's reactions to the Gemstone Dragon and Blue phoenix!"

Rosalie rolled her eyes at the third-in-command's childish enthusiasm.

"I'm going to try and let Heather meet Regulus soon," Scarlett told the group.

Helga frowned as she looked at the leader of the Council. "Don't you feel weird about meddling in all of those people's lives? I know I would be," she said, and Godric nodded along to what she said.

"Not really," Scarlett responded. "I've been doing it since the beginning of time."

"That's the truth," Jasper mumbled to himself causing the Fates closest to him to laugh quietly.


	11. Duels and Nightmares

**A/N: Okay, I have a **_**lot **_**of plans for this story. I'm going to try to keep the events within just a year or two in this story, but like I said I have a lot planned. I have to also let Heather get to know the characters, and all of that on top of what she will be doing to stop Voldemort.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. **

**~Shadow**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other recognizable content.**

Chapter 11:

Heather hummed to herself as she leaned against a branch of a willow tree. She was about seven feet above the ground, and had an open book in her hand.

It had been a week since she had started going to Hogwarts, and it was safe to say the History of Magic was her least favorite class. Professor Binns only talked about Goblin wars, and while that in itself did help her learn, she needed to know the other things too. It was the only class that she had a lot of trouble with because her father had taught her such a distorted, incorrect version of the past events.

So, while everyone else slept or passed notes, she was reading several history books cover to cover. She did have some help, though.

Remus and Heather had begun to meet in the library every day, and work on assignments. While Heather needed help with History of Magic, Remus desperately needed help with Potions. Heather found herself spending a lot of time with the Marauder. She ate with all of the Marauders sometimes or the girls, and sometimes even went to the kitchens with Fabian and Gideon who had shown her the kitchen.

Fabian and Gideon were excellent teachers and everyone seemed to love them. The only annoying thing was that a lot of the girls would drool over the handsome twenty-three year olds, rather than learn. Heather was exasperated, and one day the Professors held her after the lesson to jokingly tell her that her eye had been twitching with the effort of keeping her eyes from glowing red.

Heather seemed to be able to find a lot of things that got her angry. Especially the rivalry between houses. No one seemed to realize that _they were in a war that was only going to get worse!_ That became apparent when a Ravenclaw Muggleborn received a letter, and ran out of the Great Hall like a bullet out of a gun. Her parents were in the hospital from a Death Eater attack, and had barely made it.

Heather was brought out of her thoughts by several people walking to the trunk of the willow that she was in. She gripped her wand instinctually, but it was just the Marauders. The four boys sat down, and while Remus began to read, the other three Marauders began to talk about Quidditch.

Heather turned her attention to her book when it became apparent that they had not seen her. She was going to have to teach them a thing or two about 'constant vigilance' it seemed…..

After about twenty minutes, Heather finished her book so she turned her attention to the boys at the bottom of the tree. Remus had sat his book beside him and was listening to the other Marauders talk.

After a while Remus spoke up, "I need another book to read."

The other three Marauders just rolled their eyes at the bookworm, but Heather grinned mischievously. She crouched down in the tree, and quietly moved along a branch in front of the boys. She wrapped her legs around the branch, and let herself fall over. She tightened her legs hold on the tree, and she hung upside down above the Marauders. Her hair was in a tight French braid going around her head and over her shoulder in a side braid, so it did not give her position away by hanging in front of them even though it was close.

Just as she started to position her book in her grasp, she caught sight of Severus by the castle, looking at her with an eyebrow raised. Heather smirked slightly and put a finger to her lips. She could just make out that he was rolling his eyes, but still watching curiously.

Heather turned her attention back to the Marauders, and she quickly dropped the book onto Remus' legs that were stretched in front of him. He jumped and let out a strangled yelp that caused the others to look at him. Remus caught sight of her, and fell over startled. He was breathing erratically, and he had a look of temporary terror on his face.

The other Marauders saw her in the next second, and they also had similar reactions. Peter's was her personal favorite. He had had his wand in one hand, and as soon as he saw her he jerked his hand in a wild movement, sending his wand flying. Heather managed to catch the wand, though.

She saw Severus shaking his head at her in amusement, before she twisted her body, letting her legs grip on the branch come loose. She twisted through the air, and landed in a crouch in front of the Marauders. She jumped out of the crouch, and plopped down between Sirius and Remus. She tilted her head to the side as she looked at the Marauders thoughtfully.

"Hmmm….." she hummed to herself as she poked both Sirius and Remus both in the arm and in the stomach. She clicked her tongue feeling the muscle under their robes, and ignored their confused looks as she frowned before doing the same to James and Peter. They all did have muscle – though Peter did not have much – and it was easy to tell that they did exercise at least a little bit.

Heather still felt the need to make them exercise and train with her. All four of them had rather dreadful observation skills. She could have been a Death Eater trainee in that tree that would have taken the chance to kill them, and they would not have known until it was too late. She already planned to see how well Severus was at fighting, so why not check (and train) the Marauders, too?

"Fire?" Sirius asked, successfully breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Hmm?" she asked still half planning in her head.

"Why did you just poke all of us?" Remus inquired.

Heather just frowned before standing up. She started to walk away, and turned to see the four boys share confused looks, before getting up to follow her. She turned around and glanced over them all. "James, duel me," she finally requested.

"What?"

Heather rolled her eyes. "I said 'duel me'."

James shared confused looks with the other Marauders, but they just shrugged. James finally nodded, and pulled his wand from the holster at his hip. Heather took her wand from her forearm.

"I want to see how good of a dueler you are," Heather informed him as they started to circle each other. James frowned at her, but just decided to go with it.

"Stupefy!" James said suddenly. Heather easily blocked the spell, as she wondered why he had used a spell out loud as his first move. Most duelers made a habit of sending their first nonverbally…..

Heather got an idea, so she quickly yelled, "Stupefy!" and aimed his feet. When he jumped to the side she sent a silent, _Silencio!_

The spell hit James, and he paused confused about what the spell he had been hit with did. When he could not figure it out, he just shrugged, before raising his wand. His mouth moved in a silent stupefy, but nothing came out of his wand. James' eyes widened, and he put a hand to his throat. He lowered his hand, looking worried, before attempting some spell nonverbally, but he was only rewarded with pathetic-looking sparks coming out of it. He could not do nonverbal spells very well, it semed.

Heather sighed as she disarmed him, and she stopped her silencing spell. Heather shook her head, as she tossed him his wand. She looked between them with a determined look. "Okay! From now on you four are going to let me teach you how to fight. And, James and Sirius, you two will take a lot of profit from this because it will help you with Quidditch."

She did not actually say how it would help. She knew that they were probably expecting her to just want to help them with spells, but she also meant hand-to-hand combat. She had already grown close to the Marauders, she knew that they would probably have to fight, and she wanted them to be prepared.

"You want to teach us how to fight?" Sirius asked her with a raised eyebrow. At her nod he continued, "Do you know enough to teach us?"

Heather smirked slightly. "What do you want me to demonstrate?"

Sirius looked at her calculatedly. "Disarm or knock us all out."

The other Marauders quickly took out their wands, and Heather looked between the four boys before shrugging. She had been taught by Voldemort and some of the best duelers in the world. She could take on four, barely trained, seventeen year olds.

Sirius smirked slightly, and the four boys started to hesitantly fire spells her way. Heather barely managed to keep from rolling her eyes. For a few minutes, she let them fire spells at her as she blocked or dodged their attacks. The four boys were becoming more confident in their spells.

Once they were no longer worried about hurting her, Heather added some of her own offensive spells to their duel. She quickly sent a nonverbal stupefy at each of the Marauders, as she backed up towards the tree that she had been reading in not that long ago. Her four spells were either blocked or dodged, and they slowly led her to the tree.

Heather had done something similar to this many times before. The person she was fighting would think that they had her stuck in a corner or against something, and she would usually play the 'I-am-too-pitiful-to-fight-so-please-don't-hurt-me ' role. At that point, their guard would start to go down, and she could attack them by muggle or wizard means. However, she did not do this now.

As soon as her back touched the trunk of the willow, she jumped around the tree, and hauled herself onto a branch. She climbed through the branched, towards the top of the tree, and in the cover of the leaves. She transfigured her clothes to be camouflage, and he shifted her crouch among the braches and leaves, and peered to the bottom of the tree.

She watched what their plan would be, and was disappointed when Sirius started to attempt to climb the tree. She shot a whispered, "Stupefy!" at him, and he was hit with it because he had been distracted with getting onto a branch. The others revived him, and he walked away to watch since he was out of the duel.

The other three looked up into the branches as they tried to find her, and Remus finally turned to James. He whispered something into the ear of the unruly haired boy, and then he nodded. Remus trained his wand onto James, and Heather watched delighted as James was lifted into the air by Remus' wingardium leviosa.

Heather grinned as she watched the Marauder rise. That was a _better _plan. Defiantly not perfect, but still rather smart. Heather sent several silent stupefys, and Remus directed James through the air, making most of the spells miss. James deflected any spells that were unavoidable.

This continued for almost a minute when her stupefy hit his chest. Remus levitated him down to the ground, where he was revived and joined Sirius in watching. Peter and Remus looked towards her, and Heather carefully maneuvered through the tree as they planned an attack on her. She stopped on a branch above them, and she dropped from the tree. She landed directly behind Peter, and hit the Marauder with an expelliarmus. His wand flew through the air, and Heather ran back behind the trunk of the willow.

Peter retrieved his wand, and joined the others in watching Remus and Heather circle the tree. Heather suddenly sprinted away from the tree as she sent several disarming spells behind her. She stopped about fifteen feet from the tree, and turned her attention back to Remus who had managed to dodge the expelliarmus's. He had been unable to send any spells her way while he had been dodging.

The two started to circle each other, and Heather noted that they had acquired an audience.

Remus fired a nonverbal spell at her feet, causing Heather to jump. The spell hit the ground, and Remus aimed to the place he had anticipated that she would have gone rather than jump. The spell hit the ground beside her, and Heather decided that it was time to get creative.

_Expecto Patronum!_ She thought as she summoned her happiest memories. A large silver wolf burst from her wand, and bounded around Remus. He got distracted by it, and Heather took the opportunity. "Expelliarmus!" she whispered. His wand flew out of his hand, and she caught it. After a moment the patronus faded, and Heather handed Remus his wand.

"You can do a patronus?" Remus asked her shocked. Heather grinned with a nod, and the people who had paused to watch the duel stopped paying attention to them. The other Marauders rushed up to the two, and they all shared looks. The four boys nodded, and Sirius gave the message. "You can teach us."

Heather grinned.

…

Heather listened to the girls talk, as she leaned back into her chair in the Head's Common Room. The sun was already going down, and Heather had joined the girls after Lily invited them all to the Common Room that she shared with James. She had said that James always invited the Marauders, so she was able to invite other people. Heather already knew this, of course, as she was often with the Marauders when they were there.

All of the girls were in comfortable chairs in front of the fire in the room. It was not only Lily, Dorcas, Marlene, Alice, Hestia, Emmeline, and Hestia, but also Mary McDonald, a sixth year Gryffindor. The Gryffindor had been in the Hospital Wing from a Potions Accident on the first day of classes, so Heather had not met her until the next day. Mary was a quiet girl with light brown hair and eyes. Mary was also very intelligent, so Heather traded many theories about spell creation - something that interested them both.

When they had been in that particular conversation, the two had received many lost expressions from their friends who were trying to follow their theories. Lily had listened carefully to them, and would add her input every once in a while, but other than that she seemed to be trying to memorize what they said. She seemed to be very interested in the creation of new spells.

Heather shifted slightly in her chair, and she turned her attention out the window to watch the sunset. It had been a while since she had taken the time to watch the colors in the sky that came with the end of the day. She tuned out the girls, and just as she watched the get ready to disappear from view, she realized that the girls had fallen silent.

Heather turned around, and quickly noticed that they were all staring at her. "What?"

"We asked if you were coming to dinner with us," Lily told her.

Heather quickly nodded, hearing her stomach growl at the thought of food. "Yeah. Let's go. I'm _starving_!"

Marlene rolled her eyes and curled her lip at Heather as she watched the girls stand up. "You'll be the size of a whale by Christmas if you don't stop eating like a starved animal," Malene said in obvious disgust at the other girl's eating habits.

Heather rolled her eyes. "Just because you barely eat anything for fear of getting fat, doesn't mean that I have to, as well. I actually get exercise, so my metabolism is faster unlike your because you just sit around all day," she called over her shoulder as she bounded into the hallway.

"At least I have fashion sense!" Marlene retorted.

"Is that what you call it?" Heather snorted, remembering what the girl had been wearing a few days before. The skirt was more like a belt, and the shirt didn't even meet the requirements to be called a shirt. Then, when Marlene had seen what Heather had been wearing (a light green t-shirt and dark jeans) she had asked if Heather was going to a nun meeting. The clothes that Heather had been wearing were not nun clothes, though. That day Heather had lost any respect – which had not been much – which she had had for the girl, especially after Heather had seen her kiss five different boys in three hours alone.

"At least I have more money than you!" Marlene bragged, stopping Heather in her tracks.

Heather slowly turned around and felt a wave of fury when she saw Marlene's smug expression, and the hurt faces of the other girls who had much less money than them.

Marlene continued, seeming oblivious to Heather's fury. "You have some expensive clothes – which I'd bet are from sales and friends that you manipulate – but you really don't have much money. I can buy anything I could possibly want, and you have to watch what you spend or else you'll be poor. It's sad really, how pathetic it is that you such a small amount of money compared to me. Then, on top of it all, you're adopted! Because your parents hated you, I'm sure!"

Marlene was about to continue, but Heather was getting very annoyed with her. She stalked towards the other girl, and glared down at her since she was slightly taller. When Heather saw tears brimming in Mary's eyes at what Marlene had said, Heather's anger boiled again. Mary had the least money out of them all, and her parents barely made it by. Mary looked down at her hand-me-down robes, ashamed.

Heather whipped her head back around to Marlene, glad that her hair was down, as it blocked her face from the other girls. Heather glared furiously at Marlene, and felt cruel joy when she saw the girl shrink back some. "How dare you!" Heather snarled quietly, making sure that the other girls could not hear her. "You know that I have plenty more money than you, and that I just don't flaunt it like you do. And look what you've done! Look at your friends!"

Marlene shook slightly as she glanced at her friends' horrified faces. Alice was comforting Mary who had tears running down her face, and the others glared at Marlene, shock and confusion adorning their faces. Marlene gulped slightly, before turning back to Heather. Fear lit her eyes as she saw the anger on the redhead's face.

"What is wrong with you?!" Heather hissed. "You know that none of them have a huge amount of money, and you go and make them feel horrible about themselves! How would you like it if your position was switched with one of theirs?"

Marlene looked ashamed for a second, before she lifted her chin with determination. "I don't have to justify myself to _you_! They don't mind that I have more money than them. They like it, because it makes them feel more powerful! They are nothing without me!" Marlene exclaimed loudly enough for the other girls to hear.

Heather turned her head to the girls, and saw that Mary was not the only one with tears in their eyes at that point. Lily looked furious and ready to give Marlene a piece of her mind, but Heather shook her head slightly. Lily pursed her lips, but nodded.

Heather turned her attention back to Marlene, making sure that her hair blocked her face from the others view. She could feel her eyes heating up, and it would be bad if they knew that she was half-demon. Marlene had a clear view of her, though, and turned pale when she saw the crimson that Heather's eyes were turning. Marlene started to shake, and looked like she wanted nothing more than for the floor to swallow her – anything to get away from the furious half-demon.

"Don't ever make them cry again. You may not seem to realize it, but I have more than enough money and contacts for you to drop off of the face of the Earth with no one even remembering that you exist," Heather whispered angrily.

Marlene had lost all color in her face, and she quickly turned around and ran as if Voldemort himself were after her.

Heather took a deep breath, calming herself. When her eyes had finally turned their normal color, she turned to the upset girls. "Are you lot okay?"

They slowly nodded their heads, and quickly disposed of any evidence that they had been crying if they had been.

"I don't know what you did, but thank you," Mary whispered.

Heather smiled slightly, and walked to Mary's side. "What are friends for?"

With that the girls headed to dinner, no one noticing the ghost covered in blood watching Heather curiously.

…

Towards the end of dinner Sirius nudged her with his elbow, and Heather looked up from glaring at Marlene to look at the Marauders. "Yes?"

"Why are so many people glaring at Marlene, including you?" James asked her.

Heather looked around, and noticed that there were quite a lot of people glaring at Marlene. It seemed that word had spread quickly about what Marlene had said. The only person that was even talking to Marlene was Sarah, a Ravenclaw seventh year. Marlene had taken refuge at the Ravenclaw table, and there was three feet around the two girls because no one wanted to sit by them. The two girls were altering between eating and glaring at everyone that even looked their way.

Heather turned back towards the Marauders curious faces. "Marlene was being a jerk, and I put her in her place. End of story," she said noticing that the girls sitting beside them had stiffened. She had sat beside the girls, and the Marauders had been quick to sit beside them.

The boys looked at her curiously, but dropped it when they saw the tense look on all of the girls faces. Heather drank the last of her pumpkin juice, before standing up and leaving the Great Hall. Heather looked behind her, saw that no one had stood up to follow her, and started walking aimlessly through the castle.

Heather was just walking in the left corridor of the seventh floor, when she heard footsteps behind her. Whoever it was, she had to give them props. They were really good at sneaking. They were matching their footsteps with hers, and if she had not always made a habit of changing the pattern of her footsteps she probably would not have heard them for another couple of minutes. Long enough for them to have had a chance to kill her.

Heather acted as if she had not realized that she was being followed, and she then casually stopped, before leaning against the wall. She heard a light footstep as the person blended into the shadows against the opposite wall about twenty feet down the hallway.

Heather yawned, as if she was sleepy, and sneakily watched the person out of the corner of her eye. They were leaning into the wall, and she barely stopped herself from smirking when she saw how they were holding their arms. Their arms were held slightly out on either side of them, letting the sleeve of their robes have fabric hanging under were their arms were.

Heather reached down, as if adjusting her shoe, and sneakily pulled a dagger from her boot. She stood back up after sliding it up her sleeve, and she suddenly turned to the person. Whoever it was froze for a moment, as she predicted, and in that moment she threw the dagger at them. The person did not even have time to flinch as the dagger hit the extra cloth of their robes, pinning them to the wall.

Heather pulled her wand out, as she approached them, but the person was still as they looked down with shock at the dagger. Heather reached forward, and pushed the hood of the person down, just to sigh annoyed. "Really, Severus?!"

Severus grinned sheepishly as he unfroze, and pulled the dagger from his sleeve. "I wanted to test your senses and reflexes."

Heather looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Were they satisfactory?" she dryly asked.

Severus nodded, before grabbing her wrist and dragging her three times in front of the wall. To her shock, a door appeared and Severus quickly walked inside, dragging her with him.

Heather looked curiously at the green, silver, and black furniture. She could only assume that it was supposed to be the Slytherin Common Room. She knew, however, that the Slytherin Common Room was in the dungeons. "Where are we?" she asked him.

"The Room of Requirement," he said as he took a seat on one of the couches, and Heather did the same. "It will turn into whatever you need it to, and almost no one knows about it. I decided that it would be a good place for us to meet."

Heather nodded. "Good. I couldn't think of anywhere that we could meet that the Marauders hadn't heard of."

Severus scowled at the mention of the boys, but nodded. He then turned to her curiously. "What was that I heard about Marlene McKinnon getting told off by you, after she upset everyone?"

"Oh, that," Heather grinned slightly as she stretched out on the couch. "I just put her in her place after she started bragging about having more money than anyone else in the Gryffindor girls, and that the other girls would be nothing without her."

Severus raised an eyebrow at her. "So it's your fault that she looked like she had come face-to-face with a dementor when she came into dinner?"

Heather's face reddened slightly. "So, I _may_ have gotten just a little too angry, and she might have seen my eyes turn red?"

Severus frowned at her. "You should not have done that. What if she tells people this?" Severus started to lecture.

"Calm, Sev. No one will believe her even if she does, which I doubt that she will. She probably thinks that I'll kill her if she says anything."

"Sev?" Severus questioned her, raising an eyebrow. "And why does she think that you'll kill her?"

"Severus can be a mouthful at times, and I threatened to make sure that she was wiped off of the face of the Earth if she made any of my friends cry again, and I doubt that she'll test me on letting my secret out," Heather informed him.

Severus rolled his eyes at her. "You'd better hope so, if you want another month before you start spying."

Heather nodded. "Voldemort's been agitated lately. He keeps trying to call me to him. I don't have long until I'll have to go," she sighed.

"Don't say his name!" Severus hissed as he clutched his forearm.

"Sorry," Heather said sheepishly. "I've gotten used to the burn that comes with saying or hearing his name. Oddly enough, it was Voldemort that got me to saying his name. Something about since I'm his daughter, I'm aloud to say it."

Severus rose an eyebrow at her, and asked confusedly, "The _Dark Lord_ of all people told you to call him by the name that he doesn't want anyone to call him?"

Heather grinned. "Yep. He wants it to show that I have superiority over all the other Death Eaters."

Severus started for a minute blinking, before he started howling with laughter. "That's brilliant!" he exclaimed between laughs.

Heather joined him in his laughter. "It is rather ironic, isn't it?" she agreed.

The duo calmed down after a minute, and Severus asked the question that seemed to be bothering him for quite a while, "Why is the Headmaster _so_ truthful about everything with you? He only tells me what I absolutely _have_ to know, but he tells you _everything_."

Heather cocked her head to the side thoughtfully. "Probably because he knows that MoldyShorts won't try Legilimency on me, and that my Occlumency is very good. Maybe has something to do with him wanting to stay on my good side. He knows that I don't like it when people lie to me or withhold possibly important information."

Severus frowned, but accepted it. "Why do you call the Dark Lord that name?"

"What? MoldShorts?" At Severus' nod, she continued, "Because I know that he would hate it."

Severus rolled his eyes. "Nice to know that I'm partnered up with a suicidal dunderhead."

Heather mock-pouted. "I'm neither suicidal nor a dunderhead!"

"Sure you aren't," Severus muttered.

Heather raised an eyebrow at him, causing him to sigh. "We really need to get on task. We're not getting anywhere with our first meeting."

Heather nodded. "What information do you have for me?"

"The Dark Lord is gathering followers from other countries, and is starting to gather magical creatures. He already has a most of the Werewolf population on his side, and the Dementors are only awaiting orders. There are rumors, however, that there is an heir of Azkaban that could come take control of the Dementors. No one knows who, though. The Dark Lord is working on the Vampires, Giants, Ogres, Trolls, Banshees, Minotaurs, several species of demon, Hellhounds, Chimeras, Cyclops, Hydras, Dragons, Hellcats, Manticore, Nightmares – although the heir to Azkaban can control them, Orcs, Owlbears, Ice wolves – with their owners, Ice Giants, Dark and Death Skeletons, Ankhegs, and who knows what else."

Heather gulped at the list, and got paler with every creature listed. "We're all screwed then!" Heather stated bluntly.

Severus nodded, grimly.

"And, to make it worse," Heather added. "I'm pretty positive that he had done dark magic to ensure that he doesn't die!"

"You're kidding, right?" Severus asked emotionlessly.

Heather pressed her lips together, before shaking her head.

"We're all screwed!" Severus echoed what she said earlier.

Heather just nodded grimly in agreement.

…

"_You're going to die, child. You already knew that though, didn't you? Everyone you care about is going to die, and you'll follow them!" Fenrir Greyback sneered down at her._

_Heather was chained to the wall in shorts and a tank top – both of which were ripped – and she knew without looking that all of her weapons had been removed. Escape was impossible. Chained in the middle of the room that she recognized as her father's throne room in his castle in the middle of the ocean, was everyone she cared about, as promised. They were lined up, and all had tears running down their faces. There were about thirty people._

"_No, Greyback," a cold voice disagreed. Heather turned to see her father, and she felt a spark of hope. He wouldn't let Greyback do this. Her hopes were incorrect though, and she felt sick when she heard his next words. "She will live; they will not. She will suffer for defying me!"_

_Greyback grinned and tipped her chin back, forcing her to look up at him. "I'll take my time killing them. It would be a shame to not give you a show," he said with a feral smile, and he looked her up and down hungrily. "It really is a shame that you can't be my slave."_

_Heather felt sick as he looked scanned her body which was not covered very well with her ripped clothes. His eyes finally stopped on hers, and she stared defiantly into his face. She felt her eyes turn red with anger, and she spit into his eyes. He jumped back in shock, before stepping back up to her._

"_Yes, I will enjoy killing your loved ones," he spat, before striking her across the face. She felt a sting from where his ring cut her cheek, but she refused to let any pain show. Her eyes continued to glow red, and she had a feeling that they would not stop anytime soon._

"_Now, who will I start with?" Greyback asked. "Perhaps your adoptive brother?" he asked grabbing Ashton's face. "Or perhaps this little monster?" he gestured to Remus._

"_Remus is not a monster!" Heather growled. She felt her stomach drop when Greyback grinned and dragged Remus to just a few feet in front of her. She looked horrified, into Greyback's grinning face. "He is a monster, girl. He's not even completely human!"_

"_No, he is not!" Heather whispered fiercly._

_Remus flinched. "Yes, I am. I'm sorry for never telling you, but I'm a –"_

_But Remus never got to finish his sentence. Greyback kicked him hard in the gut, causing the Marauder to bend over in pain. Greyback grinned as he walked over to one of the huge fireplaces in the room. He grabbed a duffle bag full of what Heather knew to be torture devices. He grabbed a crowbar from the fire that was glowing from the heat held in its metal._

_He walked back to Remus, and he pushed the hot crowbar into Remus' side. Remus released a deafening scream._

"_It's all your fault!" Voldemort told her as the screams continued._

"Ahhhhhhh!" Heather screamed as she quickly sat up. She had a thick layer of sweat over her, tears in her eyes, and her breathing was rapid. She looked around horrified, but she was just in the quiet Girl's Dormitory.

Heather had never been so glad in her life that she had had the forethought to put a silencing charm around her bed. Her nightmares had not plagued her in weeks, but she had known that it had only been a matter of time before they came back. And come back they did, even though that nightmare had been one that she had never had before.

Heather pulled the covers to her bed back and quickly stood up. She looked down to see a concerned looking Isis staring up at her.

Heather walked past the she-cat, grabbed a change of clothes, and practically ran to the bathroom connected to the room. She changed into the pair of all-black clothes, pulled her hair into a ponytail, and turned to grip the counter of the sink.

Her breathing was still rapid, and her eyes were burning red. Heather tried to calm herself down, and while her breathing started to become normal again, her eyes were still burning just as bright as before.

Heather quickly walked out of the bathroom, making sure that she was quiet, and she grabbed her small bag. She shifted through it, and eventually pulled out a dark cloak that seemed to be made of shadows, rather than fabric.

Heather tossed the silky cloak over her shoulder, and pulled the hood up. After she put a pair of black combat boots on, she glanced into a full-body mirror that was in the room. Her cloak seemed to pull darkness towards her, and her face was engulfed in complete shadow.

Heather quickly put her had into her pocket and grabbed any weapons that she normally kept on her. She dully noted that she needed to get new daggers, before she pulled on a pair of black leather gloves.

"I'll be back later," she whispered to the white she-cat that was watching her, and the cat just tilted her head to the side. Isis' icy blue eyes followed her as she silently left the room. She knew that she would not have been able to go back to sleep.

Heather walked down to the Common Room, and started up to the Seventh Year Boy's Dormitory. She had to check just to make sure that they were safe. Her stomach clenched at the thought of them not, and she quickly opened the door. The three Marauders that stayed in the room were all in their beds, and they were all sleeping peacefully. Heather eventually backed out of the room with one last look at the peacefully sleeping Remus. He could never be a monster!

After Heather closed the door, she left Gryffindor tower, and walked outside of the castle without getting caught. She headed towards the Forbidden Forest, staying in the shadows.

Heather sighed as she looked at the tall, foreboding trees. She shook of the chill that swept over her away, and she walked into the forest with her chin up and her silver wand in her hand. After a few minutes, she began to jog through the trees, but she was careful to not get lost. Her legs were beginning to burn when an arrow whizzed through the air directly in front of her, and hit the tree to her left.

Heather skidded to a stop and backed into the tree, pulling out her wand as she tried to catch her breath from her run. If someone had a bow, she needed to keep her back away from any arrows. She swept her wand through the air when a giant creature suddenly came barreling at her. She recognized it as a Cyclops. It was twelve feet tall, had dirt colored skin, a horn that looked like it had been specially sharpened, and a club with metal spikes in its hand.

She raised her wand to attack it, but before she could get a spell out, the Cyclops batted her aside as if she were just a fly, knocking the breath out of her. Her wand was knocked out of her hand, and she looked up at the one-eyed, twelve foot monster.

She gasped for breath, and the Cyclops was raising its club to crush her, when several things happened. A giant white tiger burst through the trees and attacked the Cyclops, and a centaur pulled her off of the ground. The tiger that was almost as tall as the Cyclops managed to knock the club away from it, and the tiger roared as it tried to find a place to dig its teeth in to the rough, dirt colored skin.

"Hurry up!" a centaur hissed as she scrambled to grab her wand from the ground. As soon as she grabbed her wand the same centaur grabbed her, and tossed her onto his back.

Heather gasped as she looked at the red haired centaur. Centaurs almost _never_ let humans on their backs. Heather was broken from her train of thought when the centaur ran, full speed, deeper into the forest. Heather knew that it would be foolish to struggle, and that the centaurs would most likely not try to kill her. They would not have helped her if that were the case. They must have shot that arrow to warn her about the coming danger.

The snarling of the fight soon faded, and the only sound was her own breathing and the sound of the centaur hooves. Heather began to wonder about where they were going, when the surrounding area started to become more beautiful. The forest became thick and the wildlife was more common. Heather spotted several deer, a few unicorns, and even a mountain lion. They were going to the heart of Centaur territory, she realized. The Centaur let her off of his back, and he motioned for her to follow him.

Heather followed into a beautiful clearing that had the crescent moon shining down on it, and when she saw the two centaurs waiting for them in the center of the clearing, Heather's eyes widened, she pushed the hood to her cloak down, and she quickly bowed.

It was King Elixus and Queen Vienna, Rulers of the Forbidden Forest Centaurs.

**A/N: Well, this chapter was longer than I realized. I was going to make it even longer, too, before I realized how long it was already! **


	12. Of Centaurs, Letters, and Fawkes

**A/N: I just want to clarify; in this story not all demons are evil. Most of them are, but not all. I'll most likely go back to an earlier chapter and add that in an author's note.**

**That aside, I hope you enjoy this chapter! **

**~Shadow**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other recognizable content. If I did I would have a mini-mansion and would be giving money to charities.**

Chapter 12

"Stand up, child," King Elixus gently ordered her. "And put a crown on if you have one with you."

Heather quickly straightened up, let her hair out of its ponytail, and started to dig around in her bag. She eventually pulled out a silver crown that had large diamonds in it. With a grin of triumph at getting the crown out of her bag, she placed the crown on her head.

"That's better," Queen Vienna smiled. "Now we can get straight down to business."

Heather curiously watched them as they beckoned for her to follow them as they headed out of the clearing. She followed them with the redheaded Centaur behind her. She quickly realized that they were going to where the Centaur's lived and she straightened up, made her posture perfect, and lifted her chin slightly to give an air of confidence. It would not go well if the Centaurs saw her as weak – especially since she was one of the first humans welcomed in their territory in what must have been at least a century.

Curious Centaurs gazed confusedly as they made their way towards huts made of trees, leaves and branches. Several young Centaur children stopped in their play-fighting as they saw the half-demon approach with their leaders. Some of the Centaurs that seemed to be of the more important warriors slightly bowed to the three royals – albeit a little hesitantly to Heather. She was not insulted, though. She was well aware that by them bowing at all that the Centaurs held at least some respect to her. She would be willing to bet that something about her was written in the stars for them to find.

The leaders of the centaurs eventually led her to the largest hut in the town that was in beside a cropping of rock, that she guessed was where they made announcements. When they stepped into the hut, leaving the eerie silence from the Centaurs, the redheaded centaur joined the guard that immediately went to stand at the entrance.

"Are you okay after that battle? We have healers if you need them," Queen Vienna told her as she and her husband turned towards Heather.

"I'm fine, your Highness, do not worry about me."

"We must worry about you," King Elixus told her. "We have read about your destiny from the stars for centuries. It is the Fates decision for us to aid you in any way we can, and to help you get rid of the corrupt murderer that is called Lord Voldemort."

Heather looked between the two Rulers, confused. "I thought that Centaurs did not join in on human wars."

"This is different. Voldemort is gathering a large army of many dangerous magical creatures. That much was obvious by that Cyclops trying to kill you so desperately. Although I will admit that I am confused as to why it tried to kill," King Elixus said.

"What do you mean? Was it not supposed to try to kill me?"

King Elixus shook his head. "No. All creatures under Voldemorts command were ordered to bring you to him unharmed. He wants you to join him before he tries to take full control over England; eventually he will attempt to take over the whole world, and he wants you by his side when he does it."

Heather frowned, and a thought suddenly struck her. "How did that Cyclops even get onto Hogwarts grounds?"

Queen Vienna sighed sadly. "Hogwarts has no choice but to take her magic to reinforce the actual allowed school grounds. Eventually dark creatures will be able to roam in the forest. The pure magic that the forest used to be is turning more and more corrupt with each passing day."

"What was the forest like before it became corrupt?"

Queen Vienna got a dreamy smile on her face, and Heather leaned against the trunk of a tree, realizing that this meeting would take a while. "Oh, the Forbidden Forest used to be wonderful. Centaurs live for several centuries, so I have lived through much of the change. When the four Founders of Hogwarts built the school it was meant to be a magical sanctuary as well as a school. There were Fairies, more Unicorns, Elves, Hippogriffs, Satyrs, and even some dragons – every light magical creature that is imaginable. Sadly, when the Founders died some dark creatures would get in from time to time. The Heads of the school would always try to get them out, but they always came back."

Queen Vienna turned grim as she continued. "More creatures that were evil started to come in, and eventually the school had to block off much of the Forbidden Forest. The Heads of the school cannot do much concerning the dark creatures. Centaurs had to block off territory with regular patrols to keep the creatures away. Eventually the creatures realized that this is our land. We just have to remind them every once in a while. All of the Centaurs just hope that one day Hogwarts will become exactly what the Founders intended."

"I didn't know that," Heather murmured.

"Not many do," the Queen smiled sadly.

"Enough of this sad talk!" King Elixus exclaimed. "Just know to be very careful whenever you enter the forest."

Heather nodded. "Of course. May I ask what that giant tiger was?"

The King and Queen exchanged looks, before Kind Elixus shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I'm afraid that it is not our secret to tell…"

"_It's mine_," a female voice said from the doorway. Heather turned to look but saw no one there. "_I'm down here Heather_," the voice informed.

Heather looked to the bottom of the doorway, and gasped. It was Isis. The she-cat was talking!

"_Don't look too shocked_," Isis told her as she walked into the room. The cat tilted her head in recognition to the Centaurs. "_King Elixus, Queen Vienna._" The two Centaurs inclined their heads in response.

Heather looked between the three, feeling helplessly confused. "What is going on?" she asked with a somewhat desperate tone in her voice.

Isis padded in front of her. "_Your mother sent me to you when you were just a baby. For a while I could just watch you. Eventually I would let you see me, and I would play with you. My main job has always been to keep you safe and try to let you have fun along the way_."

"How were you not seen by people more? What do you have to do with that giant tiger? And my mother sent you?"

Isis seemed to smirk at this. She backed up slightly and transformed into a giant tiger, but her fur was pitch black this time. "_I can change what creature I am and what color I am, as long as I am no more than twenty feet tall and twenty feet long. Your mother did send me. She wanted me to keep an eye on you. And before you ask, I cannot tell you who your mother is_," the cat told her as she shrunk back down to the form she had been in for years.

"That's awesome!" Heather grinned, imagining how many people they could potentially save with Isis having that ability. "But I do wish that I could learn who my mother is."

"_I'm sure will eventually. My ability is amazing, isn't it_," Isis said smugly.

"I hate to interrupt," King Elixus cut in, "but you two need to go back to the castle. Your escort just arrived."

_Arrived? _Heather wondered. Would the Centaurs not take them back? She followed the Centaurs out of the tent, and walked behind them curiously. Isis padded at her side. The four of them – with a guard for them – walked out of the Centaur village, and eventually stopped in the clearing that Heather had met the King and Queen of the Forbidden Forest Centaurs.

Standing in the clearing was two people. They both looked to be in both their late twenties, but they had a look of wisdom on their faces that Heather had never seen on someone that young. Both of them had brown hair that had highlights of gold in it.

The man stepped forward, his eyes shining. "Come, Heather. Albus sent us. He said that he had gotten a message from the Centaurs, and that you needed to be brought back to the castle."

"Should I trust them?" Heather muttered to the King, Queen, and Isis.

"They are trustworthy," King Elixus told her, and the Queen and Isis nodded in agreement.

"Yes," Heather responded to the man, and she stepped forward with Isis at her heels. She turned to the rulers of the Centaurs. "I'll see you again soon," she promised. King Elixus and Queen Vienna smiled, and disappeared back into the trees to join their guard. Heather turned back around to the two other people in the clearing.

"Come on, Heather," the woman told her, and the three left the clearing with Isis just behind them.

The man turned to her. "My name is Nicholas Flamel, and this is my wife Perenelle."

Heather gasped, before beaming. "I've wanted to meet you two since Albus mentioned you."

Perenelle smiled at her. "Well it's good to meet you. I'm sure that Nicholas and I will see you many times in the future."

"That would be nice."

After a few minutes in comfortable silence, Nicholas spoke up. "We're almost at the castle." Heather looked up to see that they were indeed about to leave the forest and close to the castle. Nicholas glanced at her before continuing, "When we get inside Perenelle and I will go to Albus' office, and you need to go to your dormitory."

"Albus gave us this to give you," Perenelle said, handing her a piece of paper. "It's just in case you get stopped by someone trying to give you detention on your way to your dormitory. Just show them the paper."

"Thank you," Heather smiled.

They walked into the castle, and after 'goodbye's they went their separate ways. After she took her crown off, making sure that no one saw it, Heather walked towards the dormitory picking Isis up. She had almost gotten to the tower when Remus stopped her. "You're out after hours."

"I know," she grinned showing him the piece of paper.

Remus nodded after a moment. "So why are you out at," he checked his watch. "Four in the morning?" he asked her, and Heather idly wondered why the Prefect was out so early.

"Is it four?" Heather asked shocked. "Well time sure does fly."

Remus just looked at her with a raised eyebrow, before noticing her cloak. "Why does your cloak seem to attract the darkness?"

"Oh, it's meant to do that. My father gave it to me years ago so that I could sneak around at night easily."

"Your father gave you a cloak so that you _can_ sneak around?" he asked her confused.

"Yep. Good night, Remus," she said before starting to go into the Common Room.

"Good morning," Remus corrected.

Heather turned to grin at him, before closing the door, and heading up to her bed. As soon as she got there, she sat Isis down and lay down on the bed. She fell asleep quickly. She was exhausted from her eventful night – or early morning.

…

"Wake up," Lily sang.

Heather groggily rolled over in her bed to see that she was the only one still in bed. She groaned as she pulled herself away from the comfort that her bed gave her tired limbs. She dragged herself to the bathroom, and after a shower, got ready for the day. By the time she was ready to go eat breakfast, she was awake and practically bouncing from energy as she replayed the events from the previous day in her mind. She would need to talk to Dumbledore and Severus later.

With a sigh, she followed the girls out of the Common Room to the Great Hall. She made note of how Marlene and Sarah were glaring at her. She had a flickering thought of how it was good that they were not Basilisks or she would be beyond dead at that point.

With that thought she sat beside the Marauders as the girls sat beside them, ignoring the pranksters. It had become a habit for them to all sit together, but for the most part sticking to their own groups with Heater jumping between conversations. She told the Marauders that an hour after their last lesson of the day (which ended at five) that they were going to go train by the lake.

When the owls came into the hall, she recognized Valentina's owl flying towards her and quickly held out her arm to the bird. The owl let her get the package from it, and Heather offered it a sausage from her plate. The owl grabbed it and ate it. "_Thank you,_" the owl hooted before flying away.

Heather stared after the owl in shocked confusion. The owl had said thank you. She had been able to understand the owl. _What is going on?_ She thought desperately.

"What's that?" Sirius asked her curiously, looking over her shoulder to see the package better.

Heather blinked, turning her attention back to what Valentina had sent her. She opened the letter that was written in her adoptive mother's elegant script first.

_Dear Heather,_

_ I am dreadfully sorry that I have not written before now. Between my duties as a Healer and going to Balls that Purebloods have started as of the beginning of the school year, everything has been quiet hectic. I do wish to know how you are faring in Hogwarts thus far. Are you learning new things, or are the teachers inadequate? You always know that I can just hire more private tutors if need be. Your brother says that everything should be fine, but I want to be sure._

_ Enclosed in the box are things that I am sure will come in use one way or another. It has completed Potions in it for you to add to your already sufficient collection. I also managed to acquire some Potion supplies that I feel will please you. I'm afraid that I could find no one selling Basilisk venom, but I shall keep an eye out. _

_ Among the things inside you will find sweets, as well as more reading material. You have not read anything included, unless I am mistaken. After hearing Ollivander's comment on your wand, I managed to get an acceptable amount of books on wands. I am sure that you will find the reading pleasant. There are also many books on Wards. You would do well to study them. The time to use any magic is coming near. There are seeds in the package, as well as other plants, that will give you a burst of energy; it will act like adrenaline, but it will not drain you nearly as much. There are books on several magical creatures and organizations that I have been told would be helpful to you. I am under oath to not inform you who told me of this, but know that they are powerful and to be trusted._

_ I am afraid that I cannot tell you much more. Letters and packages to and from many places are being checked through. Professor Dumbledore already informed me that this was the case at Hogwarts. Be cautious of what you say and send in anything leaving through owl post. I am working on a way to get letters to you without this inconvenience, but for now you will need to be cautious of everything mentioned in your letters. Do not tell me anything that could come back to haunt you. The Ministry would be delighted for a reason to arrest anyone at the present time._

_ From now on we must not use our real names through letters. You need to let me know what to call you from now on._

_Love,_

_Aphrodite_

"Our letters are being checked?" Sirius asked surprised.

Heather looked up at him with a playful scowl. "You'd better be glad. Who knows what she would have written if they weren't. If there was something in there that you did not need to know, I would not have hesitated to Obliviate you."

Sirius raised his hands in surrender, realizing that she was not kidding. He then eyed the package curiously. "If what this 'Aphrodite' wrote is true, then there must be a _lot_ of shrinking and expansion charms on that."

"Yes," Heather agreed looking at the package that could easily fit inside the palm of her hand.

…

"Sev!" Heather hissed as she walked down the almost abandoned hallway.

Severus stiffened, hearing his nick-name. He glanced around, and after making sure that no one was watching, motioned his head in the direction of the Room of Requirement before making his own way there. Heather followed at a distance, even though she knew that they would end up making their way to Dumbledore's office.

Luck was on their side, as they nearly walked into McGonagall. The professor looked between them curiously, as Heather quickly walked to stand by her friend's side after checking that the hallway was empty. McGonagall continued to look between them. "What are you two doing? Professor Dumbledore has told me of the… situation, but why are you two walking so closely together?"

Heather exchanged a look with Severus, before speaking up, "I need to talk with Severus and Albus, and you just gave us a window of opportunity. Pretend like you have a reason to take us to Albus' office. You will be welcome to stay to listen to my news, if you wish."

McGonagall frowned at Heather's use of the Headmaster's name, but nodded to her request. Heather's two companions gave her curious looks, as McGonagall lead them to the office.

"Chocolate frog," McGonagall said to the gargoyle, and walked up the stairs with the two seventh years following. Dumbledore quickly called for them to come in, and gestured for them to sit down.

"Would any of you care for a lemon drop?" Dumbledore asked them.

"I want one that is not laced with calming drought," Heather responded.

Severus raised an eyebrow at her, while McGonagall turned on Dumbledore, "You've been lacing lemon drops with calming droughts? What is wrong with you, Albus?"

Dumbledore just held up a hand to silence his deputy, as he reached into a drawer of his desk, pulling out a bag of lemon drops. He handed the bag to Heather, and she happily grabbed a few before returning the bag. Dumbledore put the bag back, and turned to answer the stern woman, "It is just to make sure that they can actually talk without their nerves making them stutter."

McGonagall scowled at that, but did not say anything else.

"What did you need?" Dumbledore asked.

"Oh, do I have news for you, Albus," Heather sighed.

…

"Urg," Severus groaned as he ran a hand through his hair. "Everything just got a lot more complicated."

"That it did, Severus. However, I think that this will benefit us in the future," Dumbledore said with his eyes twinkling. Heather had spent almost an hour telling about everything that had transpired.

Dumbledore turned to Heather. "I want to test something. Will you see if you can understand Fawkes?"

Heather nodded, and the handsome Phoenix flew to her arm that she quickly moved for the fire bird to use as a perch. "Hello, Fawkes."

"_Hello, young one," _the Phoenix greeted, its voice laced with power and wisdom.

"I can understand you!" Heather exclaimed.

"_And I you,"_ Fawkes amusedly told her.

"Extraordinary," Dumbledore breathed.

Heather turned her attention to the three bewildered humans in the room. "What?"

"You were speaking in the language of the Phoenix," Severus told her.

Heather blinked. "I hear English."

"Hmm… I thought that it was something like that," Dumbledore murmured. He then spoke up. "You three may leave. Nothing said in this room is to be repeated."

The three nodded, and left the tower. McGonagall kept sending glances at Heather as they reached the bottom of the staircase, before she headed in the direction of her office.

Severus turned to Heather as soon as she rounded the corner. "I'll work on some way for us to contact each other."

Heather nodded gratefully. "Thank you. I have a couple of other projects I'm working on. I believe that my adoptive mother has left me clues in the things she sent me, and I need to work them out."

He was about to answer, but he saw something over her shoulder."Regulus is coming!" Severus suddenly whispered, before glaring at her. He raised his voice. "Who do you think you are, insulting me?! You are nothing but a blood-traitor!"

Heather instantly played along, and sneered. "And what are you, Snape, but a pawn in a mad-man's game of chess?"

Regulus finally reached them, and stood beside Severus. "Is this filth bothering you?" he asked with a scowl as he looked Heather up and down.

Heather smirked at him. "Ah, I see that I am in the presence of not one but _two_ pawns! How is your Master? Still asking you to lick the dirt off of his shoes?"

The two glared at her before stalking away, both with billowing cloaks. Heather ginned. "See you lot when I dissect your Master with a rusty spoon!" she called after them.

Severus looked over his shoulder with a scowl on his face, but Heather could see amusement in his eyes. Regulus glared at her, but was that a spark of hope she saw in his eyes? _Interesting…_

Heather thoughtfully walked to the lake. After she trained with the Marauders she would need to do a little more research than she had originally planned. She failed to notice the ghost that had taken to following her.

…

"Oh no," Salazar groaned.

Scarlett looked at the Founder with a raised eyebrow. "Should I even ask?"

Salazar gulped guiltily. "Slinky is still at Hogwarts."

"Slinky?" Godric dryly asked him.

Salazar laughed uncomfortably. "Er… Slinky is my Basilisk?"

Godric looked to the sky. "Oh, dear Merlin."

Salazar shifted uncomfortably under all of the incredulous looks he was getting.

"You named your _Basilisk _Slinky?!" Alter asked before letting out a laugh. "That is funny, I'll give you that."

Salazar grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well…"

Scarlett sighed, running a hand over her face. "I don't know if this will be helpful or not."

"It should be helpful. There is only one way to ensure that Heather has sole control over Slinky, though."

The other Founders looked at him shocked. Rowena voiced their thoughts, "Surely you don't mean what I think you mean?"

Salazar nodded. "I think it would be the best course of action. I have already disowned Voldemort, so why not? She will only benefit from being sole heir. By being in Voldemort's bloodline she already is an heir."

"Hmm…" Godric hummed. "You're the only demon founder – one of the only good demons I've ever met – and I think that you have the right idea. I want her to be my heir as well."

"Mine, too," the other Founders piped up.

"Are you four absolutely certain?" Scarlett asked them seriously.

"Yes," the four instantly answered.

"Of course. I will inform the Gringotts Director. In the meantime, what should we do about the Bloody Baron? He is following Heather around. He cannot tell anyone of what he hears, but should we allow him to mentor Heather, as he wishes to?" Scarlett asked.

"I think that she would benefit from it," Erica said.

"It could not cause any harm," Rosalie agreed.

Everyone else in the room was nodding in agreement. Scarlett inclined her head in recognition, before continuing, "It will not be long before we must tell her of her heritage, and let her powers meet their full potential. At that point she will need to train with the Flamels. There are things that must happen first, however."

"How long will this take?" Bernard asked.

"It will be before Christmas," Scarlett informed the group.

_The world will not know what hit it when we set Heather loose with her full power unleashed,_ Scarlett thought to herself. _But she will defiantly have enemies that will pose a challenge to her._

**A/N: I hope you liked this chapter. If anyone has any ideas to give me then you are welcome to let me know them. Please point out any mistakes you find.**


	13. Griffin and Heir

**A/N: I am way too forgetful! I seem to always forget to thank everyone. Grrr…. Anyway, I woulf like to thank anyone and everyone who is following this story, has reviewed this story, or has added this story to their favorites. Oh, and I have two questions: is this story too rushed, and does anyone know how to make a tilde show up on ff. net (I've seen people make it work, but it doesn't for me)?**

**That being said, let's get on with the chapter! **

**~Shadow**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other recognizable content.**

Chapter 13

Heather hummed to herself as she stirred the large cauldron on the table in front of her. It was at least one foot wide and three feet deep. There were several more huge cauldrons on tables around the potions room that she was in, and all of them had a brewing potion in them.

Heather had decided that she was running low on many of the potions that she made a habit of always having with her, and while Valentina _had_ sent a lot of potions, there where some that were easy to brew and quick to make.

After a few minutes of stirring the potion that she was working on, she walked to the edge of the room where she had sat her bag. She sat in the seat there and pulled out one of the books that her adoptive mother had sent her. Some of the books had gold starts on them and she realized that Valentina thought that they would be most handy. Some of them were about healing, some were about spells, some were about the Dark Arts, and, oddly enough, some of them were about the culture and lifestyle of some magical creatures.

Heather picked up the thick book called _The World of Goblins: From the Eyes of a Goblin_. The book was easy to understand, told about how Goblins made their choices, and told about what they thought of other creatures. All in all, Heather was ready to immediately go to Gringotts, request an audience with every Goblin, and apologize like the guilty person that she was. Some of the things that she had done that she did to make other witches and wizards comfortable just made them think that she thought that she was better than them.

Heather promised herself that next time she visited the Goblins that she would greet them in the respecting way that Goblins greeted others that they considered to be in a position that needed to be respected.

Heather's eyes hungrily scanned the pages, memorizing it as she took in the words. She had always had a bit of a problem with wanting a lot of knowledge. But knowledge _was_ power.

She looked up after about thirty minutes, and stood up. After she sat her book down, she walked around the cauldrons, finishing most of them. She got many potion bottles; each could hold about two liters. After she put the completed potions in the bottles, labeled them, put them in her bag, and grabbed her book, she left the room.

Heather whistled to herself as she walked through the grand home that she was in. She eventually came to a great staircase and walked up them. She walked into the East Wing of the home and passed many rooms, finally coming to a stop in front of a pair of colossal doors. She pushed the doors open, and a massive library was revealed. The library put the Hogwarts library to shame. It probably even put the Ministry of Magic's library to shame. She was just grabbing some books on how to make things dramatic when a loud noise started to echo through the entire home.

Heather rolled her eyes, and snapped her fingers. She disappeared in blue fog, and finally came to a stop in Fabian and Gideon's office. She put up the strongest privacy spells she knew, before turning on them. "What do you need? I was about to do some research on how to make things more dramatic so that I can scare the Death Eaters and MoldyShorts with my dramatic awesomeness!"

Fabian and Gideon both raised an identical eyebrow at her. Some one behind her started chuckling to himself. She spun around to see Dumbledore open his mouth to talk through his laughter. "I can't wait to see what you come up with."

Heather grinned sheepishly. "Can I assume that you're why they called me out of my genie lamp?" she asked, scooping up the beautiful silver lamp that had blue engravings.

"Ah, yes," Dumbledore said with twinkling eyes. "A letter has been quite insistent that it gets to you." As he spoke he opened the door to the office, and a fierce looking hawk flew in.

"Only Gringotts uses hawks," she observed, lifting an arm for the bird. It landed on her arm, lifting its leg to her so that she could take the letter. "Thank you," she told the bird.

The hawk almost fell off of her arm. It looked at her, its eyes seeming larger than before. "_You speak my language?_"

"Apparently I speak most languages."

"_Amazing,_" the hawk commented. It gently nudged her head, took the knuts she put in the pouch on it, and flew away.

"What does it say?" Fabian asked.

"Did you do something to upset those poor, defenseless Goblins?" Gideon added.

"Because if you did, you're on your own."

"We don't like to get into Goblin matters, and –"

"It would be a shame if they try to get you," Fabian finished.

Heather stared at Gideon. "Did you just call Goblins defenseless?"

Gideon paused. "Err… no?"

Heather rolled her eyes. "You're an idiot, and had better hope that the Goblins never hear that. They'll come over here and castrate you if they do."

Gideon paled at the thought, and quickly nodded.

Fabian looked at his twin amusedly. "What do the Goblins want?"

Heather turned her attention back to the letter and broke the Gringott's seal on it. She pulled out an official document and the three men in the office with her curiously looked at it as she skimmed over it. "They want me to come to Gringotts. Something to do with a will," she said confused.

"When do they want you to come?" Dumbledore asked her.

"Tonight at midnight."

Dumbledore hummed to himself thoughtfully. "You can use my Floo tonight if you need to," he finally said. "Tomorrow is Sunday so you won't be affected too much by staying up late." His eyes snapped to meet hers. "Of course, you aren't expecting to get much from now on, are you?"

Heather sadly shook her head. "My nightmares are back. I had another one last night. I didn't go back to the Forbidden Forest, though. I'll visit the Centaurs again when I start spying. Until then I'll only go if Severus gets any valuable information that affects them," she said, not in the least bit worried about how much information she had just released to the twins. They were some of the only Order members that knew her identity and most of her secrets.

Dumbledore nodded, looking troubled. "Are you sure you can't take a Dreamless Sleep Potion?"

Heather frowned. "It would be a bad idea, Albus. What if I needed to wake up? What if Ash or Sev had information for me that needed to be dealt with immediately?" she asked, thinking about how often Ashton would have to wake her up with knowledge of an attack. She knew that it would not be long before Severus was doing it too. They just needed a way to contact her easily without making people suspicious. She made a mental note to grab some books on ways to contact people inconspicuously.

Dumbledore frowned. "Fine," he finally sighed. "I just don't want you to exhaust yourself. I don't want you to be dueling Death Eaters and suddenly make a sluggish move from sleep deprivation."

Heather smiled at the old man. "You know almost as well as I do that I don't need as much sleep as humans," she said, "and I somehow doubt that I'll be too sleepy with adrenalin pumping through my veins."

"Fair enough," Dumbledore sighed. He changed the subject, "What do you think about Regulus?"

Heather sat down in one of the chairs in the DADA office with a deep frown. "I don't think that he likes MoldyShorts much. When I mentioned dissecting him to Severus and Regulus, he seemed almost hopeful." She shrugged. "I'm sure Sev and I can get him to come around soon."

Dumbledore beamed. "That's great news!"

"You can say that again!" Fabian and Gideon piped up.

Heather nodded. "I'll keep working on it. Oh, and I was wondering, does anyone know where I can get a jet black Hippogriff?"

"No…" Dumbledore slowly said. "Why?"

Heather just beamed at him. "Dramatic affects, of course!"

"Okay, then," Dumbledore mumbled. "Have fun with that. I need to get back to my office."

"See you at midnight!" she said.

Dumbledore left with a departing nod.

"I'll see you two sometime or another. I need to go talk to Severus about something."

"Come back soon. Have fun." Fabian said.

"Just don't get up to anything that we wouldn't approve of!" Gideon teasingly warned.

"Okay," Heather said brightly. "I'll prevent myself from blowing up Europe if it means that much to you," she playfully added.

Fabian and Gideon mock saluted her as she left the room laughing.

She wandered around the hallways for a while, hoping that she would run into Severus. Someone must have wanted her to accomplish this, because Severus and Regulus came around a corner after a while. She thought about what to insult them with when she remembered a muggle quote, "_Love is the only thing that can turn an enemy into a friend._" She decided to act on that quote.

The two boys sneered at her when they saw her, but Heather just grinned as she walked up to them. "Sev, Reg!" she greeted cheerfully, standing in between them and throwing an arm around each of the tall boys. "Lovely weather we're having isn't it?" she asked as she tugged them forward, so that they were walking.

"What are you doing?" Severus asked slowly, acting disgusted.

"What does it look like, my friend? I've been looking for you two _everywhere_. You'd think that someone didn't want me to see my favorite Slytherins!" Heather said, dragging them towards the doors outside. "Let's go enjoy the sunshine!"

At that minute she noticed four very confused Marauders watching them with several Professors looking between the three. It seemed the Marauders were in trouble. They were heading in the direction of Dumbledore's office, and they were the only ones anywhere near that part of the castle if you didn't count Heather and the very bewildered Death Eaters.

She winked in their direction, before continuing her conversation. "You two are getting rather pale. It can't be good for you!" she said, only partially faking the concern. "And while we're on that subject, how is MoldyShorts doing? Is he using Crucio on you two often? The curse is not much fun. I know that well enough myself. Is he having any luck building his army? I heard that he's working on Vampires? What about dear ole Fenrir? Last I saw him he was looking rather angry. Course he's normally angry, so that isn't saying much. Is he still threating people with biting them? You would think that he would get tired of using it. He's already used it on me more times than I can count. Guess it comes with being a Blood Traitor," she commented with a shrug.

Both Slytherins were both openly gaping at her. They weren't alone, though. The Marauders and the few teachers that seemed to have been leading them to Dumbledore's office were also gaping. She turned her attention to Regulus who seemed to be having an internal battle. "Don't worry 'bout it, Reg. If you ever want to get rid of MoldyShorts or you want to spy for the Light, just let me know. I have some pretty good contacts. They'd love to have you. Same goes to you, Sev," she added to the Slytherin with charms covering his actual features. "And don't forget to get some sun! See you later," she added with a meaningful look to Severus.

With that she skipped to the Marauders, smirking to herself. She knew that it was very possible that Regulus would at least consider what she said. She stopped beside the Marauders, and followed them to the Headmaster's office once they started walking again. The Professors and Marauders gave her incredulous looks, especially after she started cackling like a crazy villain when they were out of hearing distance from the Slytherins that were still giving her looks like she was an alien.

Several minutes, many odd looks, and many cackles later, they came to a stop at the Headmaster's office. "Chocolate Frog," she said before anyone else could. She acquired more curious look because of this, but she just ignored this and headed up the steps.

"Come in," Dumbledore called as soon as she reached the top step. She pranced in, quickly claiming one of the comfortable chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk. The man raised an eyebrow at her when the Marauders followed, as well as most of the teachers at Hogwarts. She just shrugged with a grin. The Marauders sat in chairs as well, and the teachers started all talking at once as soon as the door was closed. She heard her name mentioned as well.

"Silence!" Dumbledore said, raising a hand. "One at a time!"

McGonagall stepped up. "The Marauders and Peeves replaced all of the food in the Great Hall with bugs! Now almost everyone has lost their appetites, and refuse to eat lunch!" Woops. She had missed lunch, then.

Heather looked at the Marauders impressed. She sent them a quick grin and discreet thumbs up. Sirius winked at her and the other boys grinned slightly.

Dumbledore shook them out of their silent conversation. "They will have detention for a week with me, starting tonight. And why is Miss Riddle here?" The question made everyone in the room except for Heather start to talk again. She leaned back, smirking as she listened to their racket. Dumbledore held up a hand again. "One at a time!"

This time Flitwick stepped up. "It was insane, Albus! She was walking in the hall with an arm around both Mr. Snape and Mr. Regulus Black!"

Dumbledore looked to her, wanting her to elaborate. She put an innocent look on her face. "I was just asking about the weather." She decided to tell them the rest. "And asked how MoldyShorts is doing. And I may have told them to consider spying for the Light," she added with a very innocent tone to her voice.

Dumbledore just blinked at her before bursting out laughing, leaning back in his chair. "Things like _this _are why I'm glad that I invited you here this year," he choked out between his laughter.

"What can I say?" Heather grinned. "I'm entertaining!" She winked. "Plus, you may have some spies to look forward to! Oh, how I would love to see the look on Lord MoldyShorts face right before he kicks the bucket if one of them killed him," she said wistfully with a faraway look on her face.

That just set Dumbledore off again, and he laid his head on his arms as he continued to laugh. Tears started to fall from his face as he shook with glee. He finally started to calm down, but as soon as he caught sight of Heather's wistful look and everyone else's shocked looks, he had to put his head down as his laughs overcame him again.

Heather just grinned and she saw a flash of fiery color from the corner of her eyes. She turned and lifted her arm, as Fawkes flew towards her. He landed on her arm, and nudged her with his head. She grinned at the bird.

"_I have a feeling that it's a very good thing that you are on our side,_" Fawkes trilled.

Heather beamed, turning to Dumbledore who was calming down. "See! Even Fawkes agrees that it's a good thing that I'm not on Voldemort's side!" she said, setting Dumbledore off at the looks on everyone's faces. Fawkes trilled in agreement, making him laugh even harder.

Dumbledore eventually calmed down again, and he quickly ate one of the Lemon Drops with Calming Drought in them. He got a calm expression after a moment, indicating that the potion was doing its job. He cleared his throat, "Now that I'm no longer laughing," his eyes twinkled in her direction, "let's get down to business!"

Everyone continued to look between Heather, Dumbledore, and Fawkes, confusedly. Dumbledore continued, "You four are to meet me here every day directly after your last class. Normally the detention would be two hours, but I heard that Miss Riddle is teaching you how to fight. I will just have a teacher over see it, and I'm sure Miss Riddle would agree to work you harder than she normally would for punishment."

Heather beamed, nodding. The Marauders groaned, remembering how exhausting their first night of training was. They did not argue, however.

Dumbledore continued, "You may all leave, but would you stay behind, Miss Riddle?"

Heather nodded, and everyone else started to reluctantly file out of the room. She knew that she was going to get quite a talking to once she got back to the Common Room, if the Marauders looks indicated anything. Once the door closed, Dumbledore and she both added some of their strongest privacy spells to the already impressive amount in place.

"Well Heather, I don't know whether to thank you for implanting that idea into Regulus's mind or to reprimand you for doing that."

Heather grinned. "How about you thank me, give me the details for the Marauders detention, let me go with Sev to Diagon Alley, let me finish the book I'm reading on Goblins, and have a great day? Oh, and while we're at it, can you give me a list of all Ministry workers and get your hands on their files for me?" she asked, thinking of how many good things could come of her having that information. She could get some powerful allies and get rid of many corrupt people that were in high places.

Dumbledore just gave her an amused look.

…

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Severus! The House Elves love to have company!"

"But they just finished cleaning up after lunch an hour or two ago! They're probably already getting ready for dinner!"

Heather groaned at her friend. She turned away from him and tickled the painting to gain access to the kitchens. They walked inside, and she canceled the Disillusionment Charm that was on the two of them.

A female House Elf quickly came up to them. "Can we do anything for young Master and Mistress?"

Heather noticed that the elf had surprisingly good language. The Zabini elves were the only ones that she had known of that could talk like a human. "Yes, please. We both missed lunch, and plan on missing dinner. Can you get us some food?"

"Of course, Miss. I'll have some elves get you enough food to keep you full. You are welcome to come down again later for more if you like," the elf said. Heather immediately noted that the House Elf was talking in first person. The elf's language was even better than Electra's from Zabini Manor.

Eventually several elves came with platters of food. Heather happily let herself be led to a table, and as soon as she sat down she started to eat. Severus stared at her for a minute from his seat across from her before her finally started to eat. Once Heather had eaten as much as Sirius normally ate (and boy did he eat!) she slowed down so that she could talk. "You're coming with me to Diagon Alley later. We'll leave at around eleven and probably won't be back until after three."

"Thanks for asking," Severus dryly said. "I would love to go with you on a midnight adventure. No, I'll be fine with so little sleep, but thank you for worrying."

"You're welcome."

Severus rolled his eyes at her, but said nothing else. Heather eventually finished her food and, after Severus finished his, the House Elves were quick to clean up after them. Heather turned to the House Elf that they had talked to when they first went into the kitchen. "Thank you for your help. Can you tell the other elves that we appreciate it? They left before we could thank them."

"Of course, Miss."

"What is your name?" Severus asked. "Most House Elves refer to themselves so we did not hear yours."

"My name is Honey. I'm the Head House Elf at Hogwarts. It's my job to make sure all of the other elves do their jobs correctly," the elf beamed.

"It's nice to meet you, Honey," Heather smiled.

"It's nice to meet you two, as well. Now remember to come back down here for food if you miss dinner!" the House Elf ordered. The two quickly agreed.

After they left the kitchens and put a Disillusionment Charm on themselves, they went to the Room of Requirement. Severus opened it, and it transformed into a comfortable room with several couches scattered around. Heather sat on a couch and Severus sat down next to her. She quickly pulled out the book on Goblins and, after a glance at Severus, waved her wand over it.

A copy of the book appeared next to her, and she triumphantly handed it to Severus. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Isn't it illegal to copy a book?"

"Yes," she said, opening her own copy to the page she was on.

"Then why did you copy it?"

"Valentina sent me the book, and we're going to visit the Goblins at Gringotts later. The book is written by a Goblin and tells how they show respect. We should both read it so that we can show the Goblins the respect they deserve."

Severus eventually nodded. "Fair enough."

"Oh, and I'm going to teach you martial arts soon."

Severus groaned.

…

"You are evil, Fire!" Sirius gasped out.

"She's not evil," Remus denied between breaths.

"No, evil doesn't even begin to describe her!" James panted.

Peter nodded with a flushed face, not being able to talk.

Heather rolled her eyes at the four boys' antics. "I thought that you four were supposed to be in good shape? I'm only just sweating and breathing hard, and all of you look like you just got out of running a two hour marathon!"

"A marathon would have been easier!" Sirius mumbled.

Dumbledore's voice sounded from a while away, "Come now, Mr. Black. This will help you, eventually! I've seen Miss Riddle duel and she could probably give me a run for my money."

That caught the Marauders attention. James excitedly spoke up, "Will you two duel for us?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "Not today. If things with the war turn out how I expect them, then Heather will be in the very front line of the battles. You will have plenty of opportunities in the future to see her duel."

Heather got a faraway look on her face. "It would be nice to be the one to finish off Greyback and Bellatrix. It would be an honor to take down Voldemort."

The Marauders looked sharply between the two. Remus slowly asked, "You mean that you're going to let Heather be one of the main fighters?"

Dumbledore nodded. "She is more than capable of taking care of herself."

"Back to work! You still have three more laps!" Heather reminded them.

They groaned, but started to run. Heather sent a wink to the headmaster before she hurried to join them. They started slowing down a couple of minutes into the run. Heather slowed her pace to match theirs, and decided that they were going to need a bit of work before they would be able to run for long. She started to jog backwards. "Come on! You guys can do this! Just imagine the look on MoldyShorts' face if you manage to outrun him!"

That caused amused expressions to break through their red faces, and she proudly noticed that they seemed to speed up a little bit. Once they finished their last laps, she let them take a break. She rolled her eyes when she noticed that they were only six minutes into their training for the day. She quickly reminded them to not drink more than a sip and to just rinse their mouths out. She had learned that particular lesson the hard way, and she could safely say that stomach cramps were very inconvenient when running from Death Eaters that are sending killing curses your way.

Once the boys had caught their breath, she started their training again. "Now you four need to stretch some more. You need to try to get as flexible as you can. It can and will come in handy – especially in a fight. I'll be teaching you martial arts on top of dueling tactics…"

…

"Hagrid's Hut," Heather whispered as she passed by Severus. Regulus was only a foot away from him, so she had to be careful that only Severus heard her. He inclined his head, almost unnoticeably, and Heather went towards the gamekeeper's house.

After a few minutes Severus snuck around the side of the hut to meet her. "What is so important?"

"No need to sound so irritable, Sev," Heather grumbled. "I have a feeling that we should be here. I can't explain it, but normally my gut reactions are right."

"So what are we going to do?" Severus asked her sarcastically. "Stand out here until we go to Diagon Alley?"

"No, we're going to –"

She was cut off, however, by a letter appearing in a puff of blue fire. The letter floated down to the ground, and Heather sent Severus a startled look. He just shrugged, looking as startled as she was. She cautiously picked the letter up and opened it. The note was not very long, but she instantly recognized the elegant script on it.

_Go inside of Hagrid's hut. Ask him to see any knew creatures that he has come across. Be friendly._

_~An Advisor_

"We need to do what it says," Heather said.

"Are you completely insane? We do not need to do what a mysterious note tells us to!"

Heather frowned at her friend. "I could recognize this writing anywhere. We need to do what they say. They've helped me in the past, and I don't see why they would stop that now."

Severus scowled. "Fine, but if something bad happens then it's your fault!"

She rolled her eyes. "How old are you? Three?"

He was about to say something, when someone suddenly opened the door to the hut. A huge man, whom she recognized as Hagrid, came out of the house, followed by a large black dog. Hagrid looked at the two curiously. "Wha' are you two doin' 'ere?"

Heather cleared her throat. "We were wondering if you had some across any creatures lately that we might be interested in. We're very bored right now, and decided to come see you. We know that you are just as good with magical creatures as the teacher in the subject, and you seem much warmer to visiters."

Hagrid beamed at them. "I know jus' the thing!"

He quickly headed into the direction of the Forbidden Forest after grabbing a crossbow, and Heather shared a look with Severus as they followed the man (if he could be considered a man. She was fairly certain that he was half-Giant.).

Hagrid finally come to a stop after a thirty minute walk in the Forbidden Forest. Heather had cautiously felt for the magic as they walked, and she knew that they were still barely in the protective magic that Hogwarts had.

In front of them was a large fence, and Heather could feel Dumbledore's magical signature warding the fence. Nothing could get in or out of the fence without permission, she deducted.

Hagrid grinned at them, before turning his attention back to the fence. Heather and Severus conjured stools to stand on so that they could see over the fence. Hagrid glanced at them before letting out a loud whistle. "Come 'ere, Talon! Yer have visitors!"

For a moment everything was quiet, but Heather started to hear a loud noise getting closer. She looked in that direction and she could not help but gasp in awe at the creature that came out of the trees.

It was a fully grown Griffin.

The Griffin came to a stop in front of the three. It was taller than Hagrid, and even though Heather and Severus were standing on tall stools, they still had to look up. The fierce-looking Griffin looked down at them with a look of great intelligence.

Heather's eyes flickered between the beautiful creature's beak and claws, and she easily decided that she never wanted to fight a Griffin. Her eyes rested on the Griffin's, and she tried something. She quietly said, "Hello."

The Griffin reared back for a moment, before it tilted its head, studying her.

She felt something brush against her mind. She quickly blocked it, but she realized that it was the Griffin. She carefully summoned up her thoughts of it. The Griffin straightened up smugly when it felt her awe of it, and when it realized that she meant it no harm it turned its attention to her companions. "They mean you no harm," she murmured, careful to not let Hagrid hear her.

_Are you positive, young one? _a voice sounded in her mind. She felt the Griffin's presence trailing along her Occlumency shields, but it made no attempt to break them.

Heather curiously brushed her own mind against the male Griffin's, and she attempted to talk back, telepathically.

_The larger man couldn't hurt a fly, and the boy beside me is not foolish enough to anger you, _Heather thought, trying to let the Griffin hear her reply.

Talon the Griffin reared back slightly. Apparently he had heard then. _Success!_ She thought victoriously. Talon made a noise that was very close to laughter.

He shook his dark head in amusement. _Something tells me that I will grow fond of you._

Heather beamed at the Griffin. _I suppose that's a good thing. Do you want something to eat?_

The Griffin dipped his head in affirmative. _I would appreciate it. The half-giant keeps food in that shed over there._ Talon nodded his head in the direction of a shed that was hidden under vines.

Heather nodded before going to the shed with her head scanning through the information she had just been given. Hagrid _was_ a half-giant. Well, all the more reason to get files on Ministry employees. She could try to stop some prejudices.

Heather opened the door to the shed, and started going through the assortment of raw meat that had preservation charms on it. _What do you want?_ She asked Talon.

_Fish!_

_Okay,_ she said, levitating a small bucket of dead fish. She walked back out, and stopped by the gate to the fence. She turned her attention to Hagrid who was watching her confusedly. "Can you open the gate for me?"

Hagrid blinked. "Oh, er yeah. Just give me a min'. He held his crossbow, and walked to the fence. "Now, yer gonna 'ave to be careful. Talon is not always friendly ter visiters."

Heather nodded, and Severus suddenly grabbed her elbow. "Have you lost your mind?" he hissed. "Griffins are just as dangerous as dragons! They're level five creatures!"

"It's fine, Sev. Trust me."

Severus gave her a long look, before sighing. When Hagrid opened the gate, he went in with the two. Heather heard Severus mumbling something that sounded a lot like, "Suicidal dunderheads." She rolled her eyes at her friend.

Once they were inside and the door was closed, Hagrid turned to them. "Now, there's a spell tha' keeps Talon from bein' able to kill any body, bu' be careful. He doesn't like some people."

Heather nodded, before slowly walking toward the Griffin. _May I come closer?_ She mentally asked Talon. The Griffin dipped his head, so Heather walked up him. _Can I feel your feathers?_

_Yes_, Talon said.

Heather grinned to herself, and ran a hand over some of his pitch black feathers. Heather could not help but gasp. _Your feathers are so soft! I don't think I've ever felt anything like it before!_

Talon straightened up smugly.

"Wha' in Merlin's beard?" Hagrid asked. "He hasn't let anyone come tha' close to 'im before!"

Heather turned to grin at the half-giant. "What can I say? Creatures love me!"

Talon snorted, but playfully nudged her. _Can I have my fish?_

_Of course,_ Heather said, giving the bucket of fish to the Griffin. It quickly ate it. Once he finished eating, she spoke up, _Do you want to stretch your wings?_

_Yes, but I am not able to go up more that fifteen feet._

_Hmmm… _she thought, turning to Hagrid. "Can I take him out? Fly on him?"

Hagrid shifted. "I dunno 'bout tha'. I'll have ter ask Professor Dumbledore."

"Will you please?" she asked. Hagrid nodded and pulled a quill and parchment out of his cloak, beginning to write. Heather turned her attention to Severus. "Come here, Sev." Severus looked at the Griffin cautiously, but still slowly walked towards her.

_Will you be kind to Severus too?_ Heather asked.

_So long as he does me no harm. If you trust him then I shall too, young heir. My ancestors allied themselves to one of which you are the heir to, and I see no reason to not trust you, _Talon told her.

_Heir?_ she asked looking at the Griffin curiously.

Talon seemed to smirk. _You do not yet know? It has been recent, yes, but I thought that the Goblins would have informed you already._

_I have a meeting with them later,_ she admitted. Talon seemed very amused at this.

Severus broke them out of their train of thought/conversation. "Can I pet him?"

Talon lent down and lightly nudged the boy. Heather laughed at the look of shock on the boy's face. He hesitantly pet the shoulder of the Griffin, and suddenly exclaimed, "Your feathers are so soft!"

…

"Come on!" Heather hissed with Isis in her arms.

"I'm coming! It's hard to stay completely stealthy in school robes!" Severus defended, trying to stay in the shadows without making much noise. Every time that he made a noise she could not help but wince.

They _finally_ got to the headmaster's office – without being caught – and Dumbledore called them in. His eyes twinkled as he looked at them. "Hello, you two. The Floo is right over there," he motioned with his hand, "and try to stay safe while you are gone. Isis can only protect you so much. And Heather, I am sorry that you could not take Talon flying today. I will try to arrange a better time. But on the bright side, I think that you found your jet black flying creature."

Heather nodded, laughing. After saying quick goodbye's – and changing their appearences – they arrived in Diagon Alley. She tugged the now blond Severus behind her as she let him directly to Knockturn Alley. He shot her a confused look, but she ignored him, finally dragging him into a clothes store.

"Miss Riddle," a woman greeted. "How are you today? I see you've brought Isis and a friend."

"I'm fine, thank you for asking. How are you? This is Severus," she introduced.

The middle-aged woman smiled at Severus. "I'm fine, and hello Severus." She then turned her attention back to Heather. "What can I get you today? I haven't seen you in months!"

"It's not for me. It's for Severus. I need you to get him several outfits meant for stealth and blending in with shadows. Two need to be regular camouflage."

Severus turned on Heather with wide eyes. "What are you talking about? I thought that you said that _you_ had shopping to do! I barely have any money on me!"

Heather rolled her eyes. "I am shopping; for you. And I'm paying for it."

"But –"

"Get him some stuff," Heather told the woman, cutting her friend off. She saw that Severus was about to argue more so she cast a silencing charm on him. She just smirked at his annoyed look.

The woman got Severus's size, and started going through racks of clothing. She finally returned with about twelve outfits and several pairs of shoes. Severus was forced to try them on, and Heather quickly paid for them.

After she grabbed the stuff and put it in her bag, she dragged Severus back to Diagon Alley. She glanced at her watch and quickly headed in the direction of Gringotts. They had ten minutes to get there, and Heather had read that it was best to turn up about three minutes early.

When she got inside, she walked up to the teller. The teller looked at her with a bored expression, and Heather was inwardly smirking as she imagined his reaction to what she was about to say. "Greetings, and may your gold always flow quickly. May I request that you point my friend and me in the correct direction. I was sent a letter requesting my presence to deal with legal affairs. The Goblin by the name of Longsword will be having a meeting with me."

The Goblin gave her a surprised look. She had been polite, used a Goblin greeting, and she had a feeling that there was something shocking about what Goblin she had a meeting with. The Goblin stood up. "Come with me. He will be with you momentarily."

The Goblin led them to a richly furnished room. Biscuits and tea appeared on a table that was in between two couches that were in the center of the room. The Goblin gestured for them to sit, so they both sat on one of the couches. Heather took a cup of the offered tea, having read that it meant that you did not want to be there if you did not accept food or drink. Severus also got a cup of tea. The Goblin let them in the room.

About three minutes later, an impressive looking Goblin entered the room. Heather's eyes widened slightly, recognizing that the Goblin was the Director of Gringotts. _What in Merlin's beard?_ She thought. The Director went to the couch across from the one that the two Death Eaters were sitting on. He gave them a calculating look for a minute. "My name is Longsword. I assume that you are Heather," he said motioning to her, "but I'm afraid that I do not know who you are."

"This is Severus. He came with me because of how bad things are getting with the war. I hope you do not mind that I brought him."

"As long as you trust him completely."

Heather and Severus shared a confused look. "I do trust him," Heather said.

Longsword nodded after a moment. "Now, as you were told this has to do with a will. Normally I would not be the one doing this, but these wills are very, uh, _important._"

"What do you mean?" Heather asked.

Longsword did not coment. Instead he took four pieces of paper out of his briefcase and slid them across the table to her. Heather picked them up and skimmed over them. Her eyes widened as she looked at the names. She finally looked up, flabbergasted.

"I'm the heir to all four Hogwart's Founders?!"


	14. Alliances, CSC and Ideas

**A/N: I have way too many ideas for it to be safe. I just hope that I can put them all to good use.**

**~Shadow**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other recognizable content.**

_Previously_

"_I'm the heir to all four Hogwart's Founders?!"_

_oOoOoOo_

Chapter 14

Heather was still looking at the Director of Gringotts when a liquid flew all over her. She stiffened in surprise, and turned in the direction it came from. Severus was looking at her with wide eyes, and his cup of tea was still in his hand. Tea was on the front of his robes and on his face. She blinked at her friend. "Did you just spit tea all over me?"

"Uh… um… sorry?"

Heather rolled her eyes and sarcastically said, "Thanks, Sev. I was planning on taking a bath _later_, but I suppose that a tea bath can a good idea anywhere."

"Um," Severus stuttered, squirming.

Heather rolled her eyes again, and her mind registered what information she had been informed of to have Severus spit his tea. She quickly turned to the Director again. "I'm the Heir of Hogwarts?" she asked. When she noticed that she had yet to clean up the tea she cast a cleaning spell over all of the mess that Severus had made, effectively getting rid of the spat tea.

"Yes," Longsword answered, "and because of this you have certain _privlages_."

"What kind of privileges, sir?"

The Goblin gave her a wry smile. "You have access to all Hogwarts vaults as well as the Founders vaults. You can take full – and legal – control over Hogwarts whenever you want since you are of age, and you may apparate in and out of it. You can give punishments to students as you see fit – including expulsion. If you feel a teacher is inadequate you may fire them so long as you make sure that your students continue to have a teacher; even if it is just a temporary replacement. You may change the education at Hogwarts, but you must meet certain requirements. The Ministry of Magic has absolutely no control over you or your school so long as you do not do something to threaten them. If you so wanted you could go back to the school right now, and make Albus Dumbledore leave. You have full right to become Headmistress right now as long as you pass your NEWTS, and you could take those tests this week if you so required."

Heather leaned back in her chair, and pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers. "You're telling me that I have _complete_ control over Hogwarts?"

"And four of the most important seats in the Ministry. You will be viewed as magical royalty," Longsword said with a wicked grin. "You have the power to potentially change the magical world for good."

Heather looked up at that. "You wanted to meet me, not only because this case is special, but you also wanted to see if I can help the Goblins," she observed.

The Goblin flashed her a feral grin. "Correct. Which is also why I suggest that we invite the King of Goblins and the four colony leaders to talk with us."

Heather pondered her options. She had just been given much more power than she had ever expected to have unless she personally managed to kill her father. She was also being given a chance to wash away some of the evils in the government, and influence the next generations of Hogwarts students. And now she had a chance to make allies with the entire Goblin Nation. She grinned suddenly. "Invite them if you so wish."

Longsword shared her grin. "Of course. I will leave you two alone so that you can prepare to meet the King. Dress like the Princess that you are, Miss Riddle. See if you can get anything for your friend," he said before leaving the room.

Heather smiled and started rummaging through her bag. She eventually pulled out black clothes that were richly made. She handed them to the still wide eyed Severus. She started to rummage through her bag again, and eventually pulled out snug black clothes (not a dress. She figured she would need to wear battle clothes if she was meeting with the Goblin King. They were, after all, wearing battle things most of the time.), and black dragon hide armor that she had bought years before.

She started to change when Severus quickly spoke up, "What are you doing?"

"Changing."

"But I'm in the room!" Severus exclaimed, shifting uncomfortably.

Heather turned to face her friend. "We're spies, Severus. We'll be working together for who-knows-how-long, and we'll have to change in front of each other many times in the future. We both need to change, this is the only room we were given, and we won't take any undergarments off. It'll be fine!"

Severus just shuffled across the room, turning his back to her. She rolled her eyes at his awkwardness, and quickly changed. When she looked up Severus had just finished getting changed. She went back to the couch and frowned. "What crown should I wear?"

"Something with emerald in it," Severus said as he sat down beside her, his face red.

"Hmm… I know just the thing!" she grinned. She started digging through her bag, and finally pulled out a gold crown with emeralds embedded in it. She quickly put her hair into a elegant – slightly sloppy – up-do. Her grin widened as she placed the crown on her head. "It's Slytherin and Gryffindor colors!"

"You're insane," Severus bluntly stated, his blush starting to fade.

"Aww… is little Sev in a bad mood because I embarrassed him? What have I done to embarrass you?"

"You made me change in front of you."

"And I changed in front of you," she defended.

Someone cleared their throat in the doorway. They both looked up to see Longsword standing there with five Goblins in full battle armor. She saw Severus' face redden again since they most likely had heard their conversation. Heather felt her face heat up. "Well this is awkward!" she cheerily stated.

"I suppose so," the Goblin with the crown chuckled. "Just from that, I can tell that I will either like you or we'll become enemies. What will it be?"

"Well," Heather drawled. "I'd rather not have an entire Goblin Nation after my head. While I do agree that my head on a stick would be an amazing decoration, I'm particularly fond of it where it is."

The King just chuckled, stepping forward. "My name is Frostbolt."

"It is an honor to meet you, King Frostbolt," she replied, crossing an arm over her chest in a manner of respect.

The King looked at her in curiosity and amusement, but turned to his companions. "This is Rotfang," he nodded to a vicious-looking Goblin wearing dark purple, "Nasuada," he gestured to the only female of the group, "Alpheus," a grim-looking Goblin inclined his head in greeting, "and Coppertooth," he nodded at a Goblin who grinned at her, revealing how he got his name; all of his teeth were the color of copper. "I would like to introduce you four to Princess Heather Riddle of the Ambulant Demons and her friend Severus Snape."

"It's nice to meet all of you."

The Goblins each responded that it was their honor, and sat down on various couches and seats throughout the room. Once they were settled, Frostbolt spoke up, "Before we begin, does anyone have any questions for Princess Riddle?"

"I do," Nasuada said. The Goblin turned her attention to Heather. "Why are you Princess of the Ambulant Demons? I am aware that you are only a half-demon, and find myself curious as to why you are in such a high position. There are few of your kind, and most have different views than you. Why have they not tried to remove of you? And why are you frequently referred to as 'Dark Princess' rather than just 'Princess'?"

"My father is Lord Voldemort, as I'm sure you already know. He is the King, has a castle in the middle of the ocean, has more followers than I would want to count, and more influence than I like to comprehend. Right now, he thinks that I am a miniature copy of himself. He is unaware that I am truly against him. The Ambulants see me as a way of having a back-up plan in case my father's rule come to a rather _unfortunate_ end. And as for the last question, my father is Dark, I fill a Dark role, and I know more Dark Arts than almost anyone in the entire world. Thus I am considered Dark. It just adds to it that the entire world considers all Demons Dark – whether they are under someone's rule, free, or Light."

Nasuada nodded, so Frostbolt spoke up, "Anyone else?" No one stepped forward. "Good. Now, Princess, I'm sure you are curious as to why we are here?"

"To talk about alliances, I assume. Oh, and please just call me Heather. The Princess thing is only fun when someone I hate is forced to recognize that they have to respect me. I respect you, so it makes me feel bad with you calling me Princess," Heather said.

"If you wish, and you are correct. We are here to talk about your inheritance and possible alliances. First, we need to go over some of the things that come with you being heir to the Founders. As you know, your father is the heir to several important families. Almost every single one of them has something in them that states that if the heir is incapable of doing their job, it will be passed on to the next child. Your father does not meet most of the requirements, which passes them on to you," Frostbolt said.

"How many families am I an heir to?"

"We want you to take an inheritance test. It will tell us who you are heir to and how much money each account has," Alpheus spoke up.

"How does the test happen?" Heather inquired.

"You just put your blood onto a piece of special paper. All of the information will show up after a few seconds," Frostbolt said.

Heather frowned for a minute, but nodded. Her blood was very valuable, and she knew that. Her blood could be one of the most potent poisons or one of the best healing serums. But she trusted the Goblins, so she would do so.

Coppertooth stepped forward with a piece of parchment. He sat it in front of her, and she took out one of her daggers before he could offer her anything. She noticed that the Goblins were frowning at the dagger in distaste. She mentally rolled her eyes as she lightly ran the dagger over her wrist – not all blades were Goblin made. The blood flowed onto the parchment and, after she decided it was enough, she put her wand over her wrist. She mumbled a spell and her skin weaved together, leaving no mark behind.

Heather looked up in time to see graceful ink appear on the page. Finally it stopped.

**Heather Riddle**

**Heir of:**

_**-Rowena Ravenclaw**_

_Vault(s): 1_

_Money: 7,000 galleons, 659 sickles, 9749 knuts_

_Main Artifact(s): Ravenclaw's Diadem (currently in Hogwarts in Room of Requirement) and the Book of Knowledge (currently in vault)_

_**-Salazar Slytherin**_

_Vault(s): 2_

_First vault_

_Money: 3 galleons, 12 sickles, 305 knuts_

_Main Artifact(s): Slytherin's Locket (currently in cave with Inferi) and Slinky (currently in Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts)_

_Second Vault_

_Money: 61,965,385 galleons, 10,839,461 sickles, 1,956,734,962 knuts_

_Main Artifact(s): Salazar's journals (currently hidden in Chamber of Secrets in Hogwarts) and the Glove of Destiny (currently in vault)_

_**-Godric Gryffindor**_

_Vault(s): 1_

_Money: 2,920 galleons, 3,285 sickles, 9,437 knuts_

_Main Artifact(s): Gryffindor's Sword (currently in Hogwarts inside Sorting Hat) and the Gryffin's Crown (currently in Hogwarts inside Sorting Hat)_

_**-Helga Hufflepuff**_

_Vault(s): 1_

_Money: 3,587 galleons, 4,775 sickles, 3,865 knuts_

_Main Artifact(s): Hufflepuff's Cup (currently in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault (heir has right to retrieve it) and the Loyalty Brooch (currently in vault)_

_**-Riddle Vault**_

_Vault(s): 1_

_Money: 6,576,975,943 galleons, 63,867,390,346 sickles, 87,654,754,356 knuts_

_Main Artifact(s): 6 Horcruxes (Tom Riddle's Diary (currently in Malfoy Manor), Slytherin's Locket (currently in cave with Inferi), Hufflepuff's Cup (currently in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault (heir has right to retrieve)), Ravenclaw's Diadem (currently in Hogwarts in Room of Requirement), Marvolo Ring (currently in Gaunt Shack) , and Nagini the Snake (currently in Malfoy Manor))_

_**-Gaunt Vault**_

_Vault(s): 1_

_Money: None_

_Main Artifacts: None_

_**-Elwind Family**_

_Vault(s): 4_

_First Vault_

_Money: 400,000 galleons, 600,000 sickles, 12,000 knuts_

_Main Artifacts: 1 Shadow Cloak (currently in Heather Riddle's possession)_

_Second Vault_

_Money: 300,000 galleons, 600,000 sickles, 12,000 knuts_

_Main Artifacts: 1 Shadow Cloak (currently in vault)_

_Third Vault_

_Money: 300,000 galleons, 600,000 sickles, 12,000 knuts_

_Main Artifacts: 1 Shadow Cloak (currently in vault)_

_Fourth Vault (Main)_

_Money: 6,746,853 galleons, 356,785 sickles, 975,674 knuts_

_Main Artifacts: 20 Shadow Cloaks (all currently in vault) and 6,608 Carat Diamond (currently in vault and largest diamond in the world)_

_**Alanso Vault**_

_Money: 201,456 galleons, 97,432 sickles, 4,654,763 knuts_

_Main Artifacts: Speed Reading Glasses (currently in vault) and the Seer Crystal Ball (currently in vault)_

_**Mearna Vault**_

_Money: 195,895 galleons, 955,653 sickles, 400,967,465 knuts_

_Main Artifacts: All Seeing Map (currently in vault) and Merlin's journals (currently in vault)_

_**Hogwarts Education Vault**_

_**MONEY MAY ONLY BE USED FOR HOGWARTS EDUCATION**_

_Money: 3,845,325 galleons, 543,543 sickles, 3,456,765 knuts_

_Main Artifacts: None_

"Bu – wha – how – urgh!" Heather stuttered, looking at the information.

"It is quite shocking," Frostbolt commented, grinning as he saw the utter confusion on her face. "That's not even all of it. Your father is heir to a lot more families, and you just won't get the right until he dies or gives you them."

Heather looked up with wild eyes. "Do you have _any_ idea how much money this is?! I'm probably the richest person on Earth right now! And some of these artifacts are insane!"

Heather heared Severus gasp from beside her. She turned to see him skimming over what was written there, and his eyes were wide. "Holy Merlin," he whispered.

Heather finally calmed down somewhat. "So I need to claim all of these vaults?"

"Yes." Frostbolt nodded. "Since there are nine rings, we will just combine them into one where you can only show one at a time, unless they are invisible."

Heather nodded. "What abilities do the rings have?"

"Once you wear them you will have perfect shields against Legilimency, protection against all low power spells and most medium power spells, you will be able to claim all seats for the families – except your father's seat that he never uses – and have a vote for each House, have the power to become invisible, have a constant spell on you that keeps your movements from being heard unless you want them to be, know if a spell is coming at you, have a better memory, know Parseltongue – which you already know, have higher pain endurance, and have constant advisers that will always be on your finger."

"Wow."

"Wow indeed," Frostbolt grinned.

Severus was still gaping at her. Heather reached towards him and closed his mouth. "Now, Severus, you must keep your mouth closed. Flies can get in and it is not very attractive!" she mock-scolded. Severus's cheeks tinted pink and he leaned away from her, but he did stop gaping.

"So how about we get these rings on my finger?" Heather grinned cheerily.

"Indeed," Frostbolt smiled wickedly. "Do you Heather Riddle accept to become the Head of the Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Gaunt, Elwind, Alanso, and Mearna Houses?"

"I do," she spoke clearly.

"Do you accept to become the official heir to the Riddle Family, to become Head when Tom Riddle dies?"

"I do."

"Do you swear to keep the students of Hogwarts safe to the best of your ability?"

"I do."

"So mote it be," Frostbolt said. He then placed nine rings on her finger one by one. With every ring that was put on her, a bright flash of light illuminated the room. The rings all molded into one ring and, finally, they all settled. The ring paused on a snake ring.

_"Who dares to put me on?"_ the snake ring demanded in Parseltongue.

_"It is I, Heather Riddle. I am your ancestor and my father has done many evils, but I refuse to commit the same. I will wear Slytherin's ring with pride, but first I will wear it in secret. I will use this secret as a way to help change our world for the better!" _she declared.

The ring let out a noise that sounded like a chuckle. The snake seemed to smirk as it answered, _"I did well disowning your father, then."_

_"What?" _she hissed back.

_"I am a part of Salazar Slytherin. I disowned your father the moment that he created his first horcrux."_

Heather cursed loudly, only then remembering that piece of information. _"I need to get rid of his horcruxes!"_

_ "Yes, you do, young heir,"_ Salazar's imprint said.

Heather was about to answer, but Severus cut in, "You do realize that no one can understand you or your ring, right?"

"Er, sorry," Heather smiled sheepishly. She turned her attention to the ring. _"We can talk later."_

"So how do you feel about an alliance?" Frostbolt asked her with a wicked grin.

"What kind of alliance are we talking about here?" she asked with a mischievous smirk.

…

"I'm sleepy, Severus," Heather mumbled, dragging her feet.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Severus asked her, fighting off his own sleepiness.

"Carry me."

"I will not carry you!"

"Please?" Heather begged, giving him puppy-dog eyes.

Severus glared at her, but eventually caved. "Fine…"

Heather sleepily grinned, before jumping onto her friend's back. Severus balanced her, and started the walk to Dumbledore's office. It was already six in the morning, but they would not be seen. Heather had made sure of that with a repelling charm and a disillusionment charm on them both.

Heather had dozed off, when she felt herself being lowered into a chair. She opened her eyes and blinked confusedly. _Where am I?_ she wondered.

She did not know the answer to her question until Severus stepped away after sitting her down. She sleepily looked between Severus and Dumbledore. "Wha'?" she asked.

"I see you're awake now," Severus grumbled, sitting beside her.

"Sorry," Heather said groggily, waking herself up.

Dumbledore beamed at them. "So how was your visit?"

"Oh, you will _never_ believe this, Albus!" Heather exclaimed, excitement waking her up.

"What is it?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

Heather was just about to answer, but the four house ghosts came through the wall in that moment. The Bloody Baron floated forward. "It is a pleasure to officially meet you, heir of Godric, Helga, Rowena, and Salazar. Welcome to your castle."

Heather looked at the wide-eyed Dumbledore. "That would be part of it."

…

_Must stay awake!_ Heather thought fiercely as she finished her lunch. _Must stay awake! Must stay awake! Dang it, I must stay awake!_ she repeated, forcing herself to keep from nodding off. She had been awake for almost three days with only four hours of sleep in between. She knew she could last a few more days if she had to, but she still desperately wanted to sleep.

She just finished scarfing down her lunch, when an odd thing happened. Fawkes flamed in above her, dropped a letter in her lap and disappeared in a burst of flame.

Heather blinked at the letter in her lap. "What in the name of Merlin?" she whispered.

Heather picked up the letter, and the first thing she saw was the bold print on it.

_**DO NOT LET ANYONE BUT YOU READ THIS!**_

Heather looked at it curiously, but she quickly shoved it into her bag, and started to flee to the library. She had already been planning on going there anyway.

She was just starting to walk away, when someone lightly grabbed her wrist. She turned to see Remus giving her a concerned look. "Are you okay, Fire?"

"I'm fine, Remus; just a little bit tired, is all."

Remus reluctantly nodded, letting her wrist go. She quickly headed to the library, and chose the first seat she could get to. She put privacy spells around her, and opened the letter.

_Dear Miss Riddle,_

_ First off, I would like to say that I am sorry that we did not contact you sooner. Who are we, you may ask? We are the Council of the Secret Chamber. I am sure that you have never heard of us, but here we are._

_ The CSC has been keeping an eye on you for many a year. Do not be alarmed; we mean you no harm. In fact, we wish to help you. We have people in every department of the Ministry, have sources from almost everywhere, and can get our hand on any information you could ever wish for._

_ Through our line of contacts, we have learned that you have taken an interest in the workers of the Ministry. We were able to pull some strings, so included with this letter is a shrunk version of every file the Ministry has ranging from most offences to the least. We have also included a shrunk version of all of the law books that the Ministry uses. We wish that we could organize it in some way for you, but the magic on them prevents us from doing so._

_ We already know more things about you than you are probably comfortable with us knowing. We know of some of the alliances that you are forming, and we know that other creatures will approach you in the future. We already know that the Vampires will seek a coulcil with you. The Dwarves may also try to seek a council. _

_ The CSC felt the need to warn you of this so that you will not be too shocked when and if this happens. _

_ While on the topic of seeking councils, we at the CSC feel the need to seek one ourselves. We have information that we can never place on paper. We have already risked much by writing this to you, but it was necessary and, hopefully, worth the risk._

_ One of the main reasons that we want to help you, is that we know that you value fairness. The Ministry has been corrupt for too long, and we know that you have the potential to stop this._

_ The CSC has also been informed of your knew inheritance with the school Hogwarts. This is the reason that we also have dug up some old files that were stolen from Hogwarts to keep the information from getting out. We're sure that Albus Dumbledore will let you read all of the other files, but if this is not the case, we are but a letter away._

_Farewell for now,_

_Leader of the Council of the Secret Chamber_

Heather stared at the letter for a moment. She had not expected that. She took the shrunk files that were with the letter, and quickly grabbed the book about how Hogwarts was supposed to be run. She would send the CSC a letter later.

Heather frowned at all of the information that she had just been given. She thought over what the CSC had said about trying to organize it for her, when she had an idea. She took the Book of Knowledge – that she had gotten out of Ravenclaw's vault – and she carefully opened it. She placed all of the shrunk information on the pages and slammed the book shut on it.

A bright light flashed, but it was gone as soon as it came. Heather took the undamaged information from the book, and she opened the beautiful book. She spoke clearly, "What are legal reasons for giving detentions at Hogwarts?"

As soon as she spoke, words started appearing on the pages. She saw a page number at the bottom of the page, so she flipped to the same page in the Hogwarts Rule Book. It was the exact same.

Heather beamed. She had only had the Book of Knowledge for one day, but she already loved it. She could easily see why Ravenclaw loved the book so much. Anything that you had ever read, owned, or touched would be transported onto the pages for easy reading. By doing the mini ritual she had just a moment before, she had placed all of the knowledge inside of the book, just waiting for her to ask about it. When she asked about it, it would appear on the pages as if it was what the book was made for.

Heather took out a black leather notebook, and started writing how to improve the education at Hogwarts further.

…

An hour later, Heather was fuming to herself. She had done grabbed some books on other magical schools, and she wondered why Hogwarts was considered one of the best. The education at Hogwarts was sorely lacking! She would have to try and fix that.

She used Occlumenecy to try to calm herself, but it was not working nearly as well as she had hoped.

With a sigh, Heather pulled out another black leather journal. She opened the journal to the first page, and wondered what to do to distract herself when she needed a break from finding ways to improve Hogwarts.

With a smirk, Heather decided what to do. She took her quill, and wrote out in elegant writing, "_Competent Things I Would Do If I Was An Evil Overlord__". _

…

Who-knows-how-long later, Heather wanted to bang her head against the table.

She was about to do just that, when she saw Severus and Regulus heading her way. Regulus spoke up with a sneer, "What are you doing?"

"Learning about the incompetence that is Hogwarts Education," Heather sighed, gesturing to her journal. "Read for yourself what I've found."

Severus and Regulus curiously sat on either side of her. They both leaned in to read what was written on the page she was working on, and they both raised their eyebrows the further along they read.

"You're kidding," Severus said, looking up.

"'Fraid not, Sev. Our education is not the best by far."

Regulus scowled at the journal. "Can I read all that you've done so far?"

"Course, Reg. I'll just work on my other project," she said, pulling her other journal to her.

Severus curiously looked at the title of the journal. "Really?" he asked dryly. "Might I ask _why_ you are writing this list?"

Regulus looked up to see what they were doing. He saw the title and nearly choked.

Heather rolled her eyes. "Next time I see MoldyShorts, I'm going to give this to him, ask why he wasn't competent enough to know it already, and wonder why everyone thinks he is smart. Some of the things he's done are very stupid."

Severus and Regulus gaped at her. "I'm reading this," Severus finally said, snatching the journal from her. Regulus turned back to the journal he had gotten.

"Now what do I do?" she asked, not really expecting an answer.

She wasn't disappointed. Neither boy even seemed to notice that she said anything.

Heather sighed.

…

"Hmm…" Heather mumbled to herself. "That is horrible!"

"What?" Regulus asked, looking up for the first time in hours.

"The Werewolves have almost no rights! They're treated like scum under someones shoes!" Heather exclaimed.

"It's always been that way," Severus commented.

"That doesn't make it right!" Heather retorted.

Severus opened his mouth to answer, when a shout came from the doorway of the library. The three looked towards the doors to see four very confused and very angry Marauders storm in.

"Oh, for the love of Merlin," Heather whispered, earning snorts from Severus and Regulus.

The two boys then shared wide-eyed looks. They seemed to have realized who they were sitting with, after all. They both looked at her in disgust before turning to the Marauders.

"Get away from her!" Sirius growled, making a bee-line to the table.

"Go back to the snake pit, Snivellus, Regulus," James sneered at them.

Peter was standing behind them with an eager look on his face and Remus was shifting uncomfortably.

Heather rolled her eyes at them. "Come on," she said, standing up and grabbing Sirius and James by their ears. She started to pull them away.

"You forgot your journals," Regulus pointed out rudely.

"Oh thanks, Reg! I don't know what I'd do without you!" she cheerily said, letting Sirius go long enough to put her journals in her bag.

Heather was dragging the Marauders towards the door once more, when Regulus spoke up, "And keep your merry band of Blood-Traitors and Mudbloods away!" It seemed that he was trying to make up for hours withought scathing comments.

Sirius and James tried to turn back araound – probably to duel – when she thought of something. She beamed. "Reg, your amazing! You just gave me the best idea! Thank you."

Heather quickly dragged the Marauders away before anything else could happen. She tugged them along until they got to the Gryffindor Common Room. She was about to give the password, but the Fat Lady winked at her and let them pass. Being a Founders' Heir had some good things about it.

Heather let go of Sirius and James, and she walked to one of the armchairs. The Marauders followed her, and Sirius and James were rubbing their ears.

Heather looked around and finally spotted who she was looking for. "Hey! Lily! Dorcas! Alice! Come here!"

The three girls looked up, and slowly made their way over there.

"What do you need?" Lily asked, finally arriving.

Heather grinned. "I have an idea…"

…

"So when is your _brilliant_ idea going to be finished?" Sirius asked.

"I'm not sure." Heather shrugged. "It depends. Probably soon, though. Lily is a genius in Charms, so it should be soon."

"I still think that you're crazy. Especially acting friendly with those Slytherins," James stated.

Heather pouted, before pulling out her journal labeled "_Competent Things I Would Do If I Was An Evil Overlord_". She opened it to the page that she was on, and spoke up, "You guys want to help me with this?"

Remus leaned closer to her to read what she had written down, and he snorted. "Do I even want to know what this is about?"

"Probably not."

"Okay then," Remus sighed, but he still picked up his quill to start helping her.

James and Sirius grinned, and both started writing down their ideas.


	15. Two Becomes Three and an Elemental

**A/N: A new chapter! *Claps* Now I just have to make sure to update consistently while going to school. *Sigh*. I might not update as often until I can get used to school. And then I'll have to deal with all kinds of homework… I can't wait until school is over. At least I'm learning. Every day makes me one day closer to becoming a Veterinarian! I just have to keep my grades up high; hopefully the A+'s that I normally make…**

**Anyway, enough of my rambling. On with the chapter!**

**~Shadow**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other recognizable content.**

Chapter 15

Heather smirked to herself as she walked through the hallways of Hogwarts. She tried to ignore the sounds of footsteps behind her, and she watched carefully for any Slytherins. Finally she spotted some.

"Snakes in the hall," she hissed to the four girls behind her. Her smirk widened. "Come on."

The five stepped around the corner, and proudly walked by the group of Slytherins. Heather idly noticed that Severus and Regulus were among them.

"What are you wearing?" Severus asked, his eyes widening when he saw their shirts.

"Oh, this. It's nothing, really. Regulus gave me the idea – unintentionally of course – and Lily helped me with the charms," Heather grinned. She looked down at her shirt that was sparkling. It said _"Blood-Traitor And Proud!"_

Lily's shirt said _"Mudblood And Proud"_, and the other girls were also wearing shirts with its writing depending on blood-status.

"What is wrong with you?" Regulus asked, obviously not expecting an answer. "You're utterly insane!"

"What was the first clue?" she asked with a wink.

"Urgh!" Regulus grumbled, stomping away, the other Slytherins following him – but not before she saw him send a longing look at the Gryffindors.

"I have to say that I agree with my brother on this one," Sirius's voice said behind them. Heather did not even blink. She knew that the Marauders had been tailing them. "Sometimes I wonder why the Sorting Hat put you in Gryffinsor rather than Slytherin. Then I remember all of the casual comments on how much you hate Voldemort and his Death Eaters. No Slytherin would be that brave."

Heather turned to face Sirius. "These shirts are just another mark of my Gryffindor-ness, I'm guessing?"

Sirius grinned. "Yep. Can I get one of those shirts? That doesn't sparkle?"

"Sure. Lily and I can get you one in just a couple of minutes. It only even took Lily half a day to find the charms."

Sirius beamed, tossing an arm around her shoulders. "You two could be absolutely _brilliant_ pranksters!"

Heather smirked to herself. She lightly elbowed Sirius – just enough to catch him off guard – and spun out from under his arm, twisting it lightly along the way. He looked up at her shocked.

"Now, now, Sirius, didn't we talk about being careful?" she grinned mockingly. "What if was actually a Polly Juiced Death Eater?" She clicked her tongue. "You didn't even use a spell to see if I was someone disguised." She shook her head sadly.

"Er, woops?" Sirius mumbled, reddening.

Heather just gave a charming grin, letting him go. She turned to see the Marauders looking at her amusedly and the girls looking at her confusedly.

"Just training their reflexes," she said, waving off the looks.

"Their reflexes?" Dorcas dryly repeated. Her face then broke into a mischievous grin. "Teach me how to fight like that, please?"

"Sure," she easily agreed. It was better that more people knew how to defend themselves. Maybe she could start some type of school club… now _that_ was an idea! She turned to the rest of the girls. "You're all welcome to join. We'll be by the lake after the last class."

"Thanks. We'll try to come," Alice answered for them.

Heather beamed cheerfully.

…

Heather reread her letter to the Council of the Secret Chamber. She did not want it to have any mistakes. She was still uncertain about it, but she was no fool. She knew that having the CSC as allies would be a wise decision. They had information, people, and were willing to treat her as an equal despite her age that most people considered too young. Her father had way too many people _already_ – without counting future members – for her to not try to get allies. The Order simply did not have enough members to win the war by themselves.

Heather had been thinking about potential allies and she wondered if she could get some Veela, Vampire, Giants, non-evil Demons, Necromancers, and maybe even some Dementors. She knew that it would be difficult. She wondered if she could talk to the British Government.

Heather quickly sat up. _That's it!_ she thought excitedly. The muggles had technology that was lethal in ways that even magic couldn't stop. They could nuke Voldemort's castle if they wanted to and the wards would not be able to stop them! And she could just imagine how convenient it would be to have a gun! Almost no wizards would be able to put up a shield in time, much less have one strong enough to stop it. And grenades and smoke bombs and tracking devices and heat detecting technology and – oh the possibilities were endless!

She excitedly squirmed in her seat. She might be able to win the war after all. And who knows maybe she could even combine the muggle and wizarding world!

Heather quickly sent the letter to the CSC, before sprinting to the headmaster's office. She needed to see if she could talk to the muggle government.

She was gasping when she arrived. She looked at the Gargoyle, when she remembered something. The password had changed and she did not know it. "You have got to be kidding me! I don't know the password," she choked out, still breathing heavily. "Can I please come in?" she pleading asked the Gargoyle.

"You only had to ask, young heir," the Gargoyle said amused, letting her into the office.

"Oh. That was easy enough," she mumbled, finally catching her breath. She quickly walked up the stairs, bursting through the door without knocking, closing the door behind her.

"Albus, I just got the best idea! I know how we can win this war!" she exclaimed happily, before she skidded to a stop. Standing in front of her was a mournful and nervous Regulus Black and a frowning Severus Snape. "What the –"

"Heather," Dumbledore gave her a warning look, making sure that she stayed quiet.

"I'm leaving now," Regulus said in a flat tone, letting no emotions show – he had also wiped away the tears that she had seen.

"Stay!" Dumbledore and Severus both exclaimed before the boy could leave.

He slowly turned back around, clenching his jaw. "Fine," he bit out, stiffly sitting down.

"What's going on?" Heather asked slowly.

Severus bit his lip, staring between the three people in the room. "Erm," he mumbled a little helplessly. His eyes finally hardened, a determined look coming on his face. "Regulus wants out."

Heather cautiously looked at said Slytherin. Dare she hope it?

"Are you willing to spy?" Dumbledore asked the Slytherin that was currently glaring at Severus with a betrayed look on his face.

Regulus glanced at Heather uneasily.

"She can hear it," Severus muttered to his friend.

"Yes, I will spy," Regulus finally said.

"Welcome to the team!" Heather grinned, tossing an arm around him, while inside her mind was reeling. This could be very helpful. Two had become three in her little spy team, if you did not count Ashton… or Xavier or anyone else that she knew was good…

Heather guessed she would have to ask about the muggle weapons after they worked out all of the spy details with Regulus then…

…

"What is wrong with you?!"

"Calm down, Reg," Heather soothingly said – or at least she tried. It _was_ rather hard to sound soothing when you were busy catching your breath and sweating. "It's not that bad! I'm even doing more complex exercises!"

"That's because you're some kind of blasted exercise monster!" Regulus gasped, his face red. "How do you do this?!"

"Practice," Heather said simply, finally catching her breath. "How else am I supposed to take down my father and his death munchers?"

"I still can't believe that your father is the Dark Lord, and that you're the Midnight Rose," Regulus grumbled.

Heather gave a charming grin. "Well, when you and Sev are in good enough shape, flexible enough, and can duel well enough, I'll take you with me after you get disguises. In fact you two can act all intimidating wearing dark black cloaks, flanking me, whenever I have to start giving speeches."

"Speeches?" Severus spoke up, his undisguised face red.

"Yeah. Once I become a spy again, I'll have to give motivating speeches to the Order, the Wizarding World, and Hogwarts. It's actually really fun. I can do all kinds of dramatic effects!"

Regulus rolled his eyes. "Look, you're my friend and partner and all, but you have an unfortunate love for dramatics that seems to come with being friends with the Marauders."

Heather grinned, but her eyes widened as she noticed the time. "I gotta go! The Marauders are probably already waiting on me by the lake! Duel with those dummies that I made appear for a while before you leave."

Severus snorted, and Regulus pouted and said, "How come the Marauders aren't getting beat up by you, too?"

"They are," Heather smirked, before sprinting out of the Room of Requirement, heading to the lake. She finally slowed down as she left the castle, and she walked at a slow pace to the lake to catch her breath. She noticed, with a smirk, that the Marauders looked bored and kept glancing at their watches. They were not paying attention to their surroundings.

Heather silently crept forward, wondering who to sneak up on. She grinned as she crept behind Remus, careful that neither her scent nor her shadow would alert him of her presence on the off-chance that he had really good senses.

She jogged forward, and quickly flipped over his head, landing in front of him in a crouch.

"AHH!" the four boys yelled. Remus had scurried back as she landed, and was looking at her with wide eyes as he half-laid down from his rush to move back.

"Were you raised by ninjas or something?!" Sirius demanded.

"Something like that," Heather smirked, standing back up. "Let's do hand-to-hand after you guys do your stretches."

After they calmed down, the Marauders stood up and started their stretches, as Heather made sure they were doing them correctly. Once they finished, Heather spoke up, "Which one of you wants to spar with me first?"

James grinned cockily, as he practically swaggered forward. "I shall do the honor, my Lady," he grinned.

"Suit yourself," Heather nodded, turning to the other three. "Start those martial arts training techniques that I showed you."

The three boys started what she told them, and she turned back to James. "Bring it on," Heather arrogantly said, as they started to circle each other.

"Oh, I will," James said, leaping towards her, acting as if she had not beaten him in less than two minutes the day before.

Heather lazily stepped out of the way, jutting her elbow to the side, hitting James in the stomach. He gasped as he felt the pain, and he jumped back so that they could continue their circling while he rubbed his side. He calculatingly looked at her.

"You have sharp elbows," he finally said, before jumping in front of her, getting ready to hit her right below her rib cage. Heather lifted an arm, blocking his hit.

"I know," she smirked, bringing up her knee to hit him in his gut. "So are my knees."

James jumped back, holding his stomach again. "I'm being abused!" he grumbled, keeping out of her reach.

"Aw, don't be like that," Heather mockingly stated.

James jumped forward again, and Heather did not step aside this time. She wanted to teat what he would do. He tackled her to the ground, straddling her waist as he pinned her arms above her head. "Got you!" he exclaimed.

"Do you really?" she asked amused, relaxing her body. When his grip loosened with victory, she pushed her body up, flipping him over. She sat on him. "I don't think so," she said, pulling a dagger from her sleeve, pressing it lightly to his neck.

"When your enemy is down, don't loosen your grip. If it's a Death Eater, kill them. If not, knock them out. Don't let them get back up. And if they have a wand on them, snap it," she lectured as James looked at her dagger.

James was about to retort, when a girl screamed.

Heather looked up, ready to fight, when she saw Lily running at them like a maniac with the rest of the girls running after her.

"Let him go!" Lily yelled at her, horrified.

Heather and James both stared at her blankly.

Then Heather realized how that must look. She was pinning James down and had a dagger on his neck, where if she barely flicked her wrist, James would be dead.

Heather burst out laughing, moving her dagger away from James as she rolled off of him, and James started laughing as well, obviously understanding why Lily was panicking.

"Why are you laughing?!" Lily demanded hysterically.

Remus stepped forward, realizing that the two on the ground were not going to stop laughing any time soon. "Heather's teaching us how to fight."

"What?" Lily asked dully, her panicking finally stopping. She looked at the two laughing teens enraged. "You mean to tell me that I was panicking, and you were really _teaching_ how to fight with _daggers_?!"

Heather finally stopped laughing and she sat up, whipping tears of laughter from her eyes. "Yep."

Lily's eyes twitched as she looked between the Marauders and Heather.

…

"Time to duel," Heather finally said, standing up from under the tree she was lounging against. "You've had your thirty minute break."

Sirius groaned, which was quickly followed by the other Marauders groans. Heather rolled her eyes. _Lazy bums._

"Oh come on! It'll be fun!" Heather grinned. "Who wants to go first?"

"I will," Remus sighed, moving in front of her.

"Ready. One, two, three!" Heather counted, jumping sideways as she said the last number. Predictably, Remus had shot a Stupefy at the place where she had been standing.

Heather resisted the urge to go ahead and stun him, when he made a mistake the next second. "Fire more than one curse at a time! It's better to send five and hit with the first one, than to send one and miss," she lectured.

Remus nodded, sending a Stupefy that she jumped over and an Expelliarmus that she stepped away from. She sent a silent expelliarmus at his chest, making her move slightly predictable.

Remus raised a shield, and Heather shook her head. "Be careful with using shields. It uses your energy, and there are some very dark curses that look like harmless spells. And no matter what, _always_ jump away from the green ones. _No matter what!_"

"Okay," Remus said, side-stepping a lazily cast Stupefy.

Heather forced herself to not smirk, as she fired a green light skillfully at him. It hit him in the chest and knocked him over before he could even think about moving.

All of the spectators – the other Marauders and the girls – gasped horrified as Remus laid on the grass. His eyes bounced open shocked, as Heather smirked. "I told you to dodge green curses!" she sighed mockingly, shaking her head.

"How did you send that so fast?!" Remus demanded.

"Practice." Heather winked. "And MoldyShorts can cast just as fast as me, so learn to dodge quickly."

Remus frowned, but nodded determinedly. His eyes got a mischievous look in them as he raised his wand. Heather watched him carefully when someone snagged her wand out of her hand. She spun around, ready to kick someone. Standing there was a smirking Sirius Black.

"Wha –" she asked, turning back around. Water had at her from Remus's wand, and was halfway to her. She raised a hand, thinking that she _really_ needed to practice some wandless magic when the water stopped centimeters in front of her hand.

It formed into a large sphere of water and Remus canceled his spell, watching with wide eyes as the water floated in front of his friend.

Heather gasped, moving her hand, and the water dropped from the air, splattering at her feet. "What the he –"

"Heather!" two loud voices called from about twenty yards away. Heather recognized them as the Prewett twins. "The Headmaster wants to see you!"

"Okay," she called back, not taking her eyes off of the water puddle at her feet. _What just happened?!_

As if hearing her thoughts, a letter that she recognized as the mysterious 'friend's' handwriting, appeared before her. She snatched it out of the air, and quickly started towards the twins.

"See you guys later!" Heather said to her friends.

"Bye," the echoed, faintly, still wondering what had happened. _You and me both_, Heather thought, opening her letter.

_Talk to Nicholas Flamel. He'll know what to do._

_~A friend_

"Well then," Heather muttered, putting the note in her bag. "That was straight to the point," she continued as she fell into step behind the twins that were already heading to Dumbledore's office.

When they arrived in the office, Dumbledore spoke, "Heather, the Goblins want you to go to Gringotts – something to do with your vaults, and Nicholas just Flooed and wants to talk to you when you get back. Oh, and you can take Talon out of his pen later this evening – even if it's after curfew."

"Er, thanks?" Heather asked, her mind jumping to wondering what Nicholas had to say. "I'll go run by Gringotts now."

"You know where the Floo is."

Heather nodded, and quickly left the office. When she arrived at Gringotts, she was instantly rushed into a room where King Frostbolt was waiting. On the table in front of him was many items. He gestured for her to sit across the table from him.

Heather sat, sending the objects curious looks.

"You may wonder why I request you here," the King started. "These objects are the most valuable from each of your vaults." He waved a hand at the objects on the table. "It includes Salazar's Journals, the Glove of Destiny, the Gryffin's Crown, the Cup of Hufflepuff, the Loyalty Brooch, the World's Largest Diamond, the Speed Reading Glasses, the Seer Crystal Ball, Merlin's Journals, and several Shadow Cloaks. The All Seeing Map is shrunk down right there." He pointed to a shrunk table-looking item. "I want you to go ahead and take these things. I'm sure that you will find them satisfactory to your training."

"What do they do?" Heather asked.

"The Glove of Destiny once belonged to Salazar Slytherin and helps you to learn how to do wandless magic."

_Convenient._

He continued, "The Gryffin's Crown once belonged to Godric Gryffindor and it lets the Gryffin's know who you are; they would be willing to fight for you if they know of your linage. The Loyalty Brooch belonged to Helga Hufflepuff and, when wearing it, you will know if someone is betraying you."

_Very helpful, _Heather thought.

" The Speed Reading Glasses once belonged to the Alanso family and, obviously, let you read much faster than you could normally – and retain the knowledge easier. The Seer Crystal Ball also belonged to the Alanso family, and it gives you the Seer ability to the head of the family – which is you – and some of the most of the predictions will be through dreams; you will be able to tell when it is a prediction, and these predictions are not set in stone."

_Thankfully,_ Heather sighed.

"And the All Seeing Map can show you anything anywhere, so long as there is not something to block scying. It shows everything as it happens. Very good for keeping an eye on the enemy." The Goblin King gave her a feral grin.

"That stuff is useful," Heather breathed, already imagining the possibilities that had just been opened up to her. She could extend her knowledge even farther!

"Oh, yes. But another reason that we called you here is because we have some allies that we would like to set you up a meeting with."

"Who?" Heather cocked her head to the side curiously.

"The Wood Elves," Frostbolt grinned, showing his sharp teeth.

Heather's eyes widened. "I thought they were extinct!"

"Most people do." The King smirked. "They managed to keep people from discovering them unless they wanted to be discovered. Few people have seen them since there cousins the High Elves have fallen all those years ago."

"Why do they want to have a meeting with me?"

Frostbolt smiled. "They want to know if it's time to come out to tear the throats out of you father's followers."

Heather looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Well," she grinned. "Let's set up a meeting!"

…

"Nicholas!" Heather called as she stepped into his cottage. "Perenelle!"

"We're in here!" Nicholas yelled, from around a corner.

Heather walked towards the sound of his voice, and found both him and Perenelle in a large den. They both had excited expressions on their faces, as Nicholas gestured for her to sit down across from them.

Nicholas started, "I got a letter today, and I have good news."

"We are going to start teaching you," Perenelle continued.

"And help you unlock your abilities –"

"And learn even more than before –"

"And –"

"Woah!" Heather stopped them. "What brought this on?"

"Oh, it has to do with what you did during a duel earlier," Nicholas said, waving her comment away.

"Wait, but how did I _do_ that?"

Nicholas and Perenelle shared excited looks.

"Well," Nicholas began. "You're a special kind of Elemental."

Heather blinked.

_Why do people spring information on me like this?!_

**A/N: So what do you think about me bringing in at least one Necromancer, some vampires, and some more good Demons? And how do you feel about me putting Muggle technology in this story? And does anyone have any ideas for me? Like how to bring in the Gemstone Dragon and Blue Phoenix from the chapter "Set Into Motion"?**


	16. Horcrux 1, Flying, and Abduction

**A/N: I'm trying not to make Heather overpowered… fingers crossed that I don't screw up.**

**Right now I'm reading a bunch of Hermione Granger/Tom Riddle stories, so I am going to have to prevent myself from trying to make him less violent than he should be. *Sigh***

**As far as the idea for the elemental, I am **_**so**_** tempted to make an Independent!Super!Harry story with him having the same powers – except Harry's powers being more powerful, because he would be Super!Harry…**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and thank you for all reviews!**

**~Shadow**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other recognizable content.**

Previously

_Nicholas and Perenelle shared shared excited looks._

"_Well," Nicholas began. "You're a special kind of elemental."_

_Heather blinked._

Why do people always spring information on me like this?!

-oOoOoOo-

Chapter 16

"What?" Heather asked blankly.

Nicholas beamed. "You're an Elemental. But unlike most Elementals, you can potentionally control _all_ of the elements. It will just take time. Think of it as having an easy time with wandless magic that has to do with the elements."

"So," Heather started slowly. "This will help me learn wandless magic, theoretically. And I can control all of the elements? Does that just include the main four or absolutely all of them? Like lightning?"

"It will help learn wandless magic, yes," Perenelle said. "And we mean _all_ of the elements – including lightning. The main four should be pretty easy for you to master. The others, however, are a different story. It depends on you. Theoretically, you should be able to have complete control within the decade. Now don't give me that look! You'll most likely have at least the first four controlled by Christmas – maybe sooner. This is all theoretically speaking, _and_ not counting our plans on using time turners; you might spend weeks here, even though it is only an hour in real time. If we do this, your powers can be unlocked in much less time – at least as far as regular time goes."

"So I could use these powers in my fight against Voldemort?" Heather asked eagerly.

"Yes," Nicholas responded with a mischievous grin.

Heather smirked, imagining herself fighting her father and having water and lightning swirling around her, while it was stormy and her eyes were burning a glowing crimson.

She looked up giving a Goblin-worthy grin. "When do we start training?"

…

Heather stumbled into a chair in Dumbledore's office a week – or an hour? – later.

True to their word, Nicholas and Perenelle had started her training – immediately. They had given her a time turner and they gotten quite a bit done already. Along the Flamel property was many houses. They would turn back twenty-four hours in time, go to the next house, and do it all over again once that day was up.

While Heather had expected to just learn about her powers as an Elemental, she quickly learned that she was mistaken.

The couple were teaching her _everything_ that she could possibly imagine – surprisingly, including the Dark Arts. Some of the Dark Arts that she had already learned would leave her father drooling for more. Nicholas also had quite the fun time teaching her Alchemy on top of very advanced forms of her classes at Hogwarts.

They were also going full out on getting her exercise and making sure that she maintained her flexibility. They were teaching her all kinds of nifty tricks for duels, and Heather was delighted to know that they also taught her all kinds of ways to fight dirty. She had thought that they would be like most of the ridiculous Gryffindors that felt the need for every fight to be completely fair – which was stupid; it's either fight dirty against the person that might want you dead or fight fair and lose, possibly dying in the process.

The part that Heather had really been looking forward to was the Elemental and wandless training.

She used the Glove of Destiny sometimes, but Heather and Nicholas both agreed that it would be foolish to rely too much on the precious artifact.

Heather seemed to have a strong forte with water and fire elemental magics. She had already accomplished how to control them for short periods of time, but she had not so much of moved a pebble or quickened the wind.

The Elemental work was very taxing – even more so than the wandless magic.

It was because of how hard she had been working and how much power – both magically and physically – that she was now sprawling into the chair across from Albus. Her muscles were sore, she felt magically drained, she had a headache from Perenelle testing her Occlumency defenses, and she was sleep deprived. She had only gotten a few hours of sleep in the week –technically hour – that she had spent with the Flamels; add that to the fact that she had gotten next to no sleep for days before that, she was ready to pass out from too little sleep.

And to top it all off, she knew that when she _did_ fall asleep she would be plagued by nightmares and would probably wake up after just a few hours – and she might end up getting a prediction in her sleep because of her knew Seer ability that the crystal ball had given her.

"Are you okay?" Dumbledore's concerned voice broke through her thoughts.

She tiredly looked up. "Just a little sleepy. Nicholas and Perenelle started training me. We used time turners, so I actually spent a week there, not just an hour. On the bright side I'm not a week older. Apparently time turners freeze you in your current age until you're back to the hour that you left from."

Fawkes flew down from his perch as Dumbledore nodded in understanding. The fiery bird landed on her shoulder and nudged her head as he trilled a song. Heather felt energy and happy emotions fill through her body, and she gave Fawkes a grateful smile.

"Thanks."

"_You're welcome,"_ Fawkes told her, pausing momentarily from his song.

"So did you have a good time?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yeah," Heather grinned, Fawkes's song giving her energy back. "When I went to Gringotts the Goblins requested that I keep the main artifacts from the vaults that I have access to and – oh shoot a bloody Hippogriff!" she cut off, remembering something.

She quickly jumped up. "I'll be back in a little bit!" she yelled as she ran out of the office, directly in the direction of the Room of Requirement with her Shadow Cloak billowing behind her.

She skidded to a stop in front of the room, her black shoes silently sliding across the smooth floor – oh, how she loved having silencing charms on all of her clothes. She ignored her protesting muscles and lungs as she jogged three times in front of the Room of Requirement.

_Hogwarts, will you please let me into the room that Tom Marvolo Riddle left the Diadem of Ravenclaw?_

"_Yes,"_ a whispery voice mumbled into her head. The voice was a female's, and Heather did not have time to wonder if Hogwarts herself had just talked to her because the door opened.

She rushed into the room, looking around franticly seeing nothing but mountains of items. As if reading her thoughts a blue trail of smoke lead farther into the room. She followed it, drawing her wand and a dagger just in case something horrible was about to happen.

The smoke led her directly to a mound and sitting there, looking as innocent as could be, was the Diadem of Ravenclaw.

Heather grinned wearily, her tiredness that had been returning knocked away by a wave of adrenaline. "Why, hello there, little beauty. Now what has my father done to you?"

…

Heather hummed to herself as she walked into Dumbledore's office. She grinned as she victoriously sat the diadem on the headmaster's desk.

"Ta da!" she said giddily.

"That is Ravenclaw's Diadem," Dumbledore stated.

"Yes," Heather replied easily. "But it is also part of my father's biggest secret."

"What is that?" Dumbledore asked, both excited and weary.

"This, my dear Albus, is a horcrux."

Dumbledore rapidly paled, and he let loose a string of curses that would make a sailor blush and should _never_ be written down nor spoken by anyone no matter their age.

"Uh, Albus? As intriguing that it is for you to teach me knew curses to use against Death Munchers, I don't think now is the time. But whenever you do, I'll return the favor and teach you how to threaten people!"

Phineas Nigellus snorted from his frame. "If I were you, Dumbledore, I would take her up on her offer. I have only heard her threaten someone once, thought that it would send the most evil person into terrified whimpers, and then her Werewolf friend, Xavier, and her adoptive brother, Ashton, both told her that her threat wasn't up to her normal par. I think you could profit greatly from this opportunity," the man finished with a smirk.

He turned to the amused redhead. "You should have been in Slytherin, my dear."

"Thanks." Heather grinned as Phineas closed his eyes once more after sending a sly wink in her direction.

Dumbledore ignored their talking and was glaring at the horcrux, still muttering profanities under his breath.

"You want me to try to destroy it with Fiendfyre? I have an affinity for water and fire, and I need the practice. Unless, of course, you're okay with me using some _very_ dark magic that will get rid of the soul fragment without damaging the diadem," Heather offered.

Dumbledore pursed his lips, before looking at her from behind his half-moon spectacles. "Can you manage this dark magic or will it be too powerful? If you say you can do it then I shall believe you and allow you to do it."

"I can," Heather said simply. "I won't be able to do it for a couple of days, though. I need to catch up on my sleep and energy. I may not be human, but one week in real time and one week through time travel – aging or not – is very tiring with so little sleep."

"How much sleep have you gotten?" Dumbledore asked concerned.

"Hmm," Heather hummed thoughtfully. "Well I've been getting around three hours on the nights that I can fall asleep – which is every other night – so twenty-one hours."

"For the past two weeks?" Dumbledore asked alarmed.

"Yeah," Heather shrugged unconcerned.

She had been through times were she did not sleep at all for weeks, with almost no food, and being tortured by her maniac of a father. "For training," he had told her importantly. Heather wanted to snort at the thought. It would defiantly come in handy if she got caught by Death Eaters and they attempted to torture her; if she could withstand her father's torturing for days without making a sound then she could defiantly handle a few crazy Pure-bloods.

"Anyway, I'm going to go fly on Talon – maybe fly with him with Shadow Flying for a while. I need to practice anyway." She paused, seeing the look on the headmaster's face. "I'll go to sleep right after that, Albus. Promise. I have a tad bit of insomnia, is all."

"If you're sure…" he said hesitantly. Heather had no doubt that he would be regularly keeping up with her sleeping habits now. Great.

"Oh," he added. "Professor Slughorn will most likely invite you to join the Slug Club."

Heather cocked her head to the side curiously, so he continued, "He invites people that he feels will make it big in life and he also invites some of his famous contacts to meet them."

Heather groaned. "Absolutely fan-bloody-tastic. There goes not having to deal with politics for a while longer."

"It's a good opportunity for you," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling. "And after a while you can pretend to be sick and show up dramatically as the Midnight Rose. In fact, it shouldn't be long before you start giving speeches."

"I think you just ruined my night," Heather stated, but a small smile tugged at her lips. She was already scheming some dramatic scenes to do.

"Have any of the spies said anything to you about Voldemort's attack plans?"

Heather frowned. "No. He is being much too quiet for my liking. From what I have gathered, he is more interested in finding me than attacking. But it will not be long before he starts attacking again, with or without me."

"Hmmm…." Dumbledore said thoughtfully, resting his chin on the tips of his fingers. "I suppose that you will only have a bare minimum of time until you go join your father." He looked up. "If I were you I would join him directly after your birthday on the twenty-second."

Heather cocked her head thoughtfully. She finally nodded. "That would be best. It would make me join him soon, but I would still get to relax for a little while longer."

Dumbledore nodded, looking like he was planning something. He finally nodded once more to himself, as he looked at her. "A couple of days after that, will you make your first appearance into the Great Hall as the Midnight Rose? It will be during a Wizengamot meeting so you would have time to talk to everyone; then the Wizengamot would come because I can get one of the teachers to send me a patronus message. Then you can give them a speech. After that, you can leave the castle by Shadow Flying. You can talk to the Order the next day."

Heather let a mischievous grin light up her face. "Mwahahaha!" she cackled playfully. "I am going to have _way_ to much fun doing that. I need to get my wandless and elemental magic better in time! I can make my eyes glow gold or purple or something!"

"Oh, dear," Dumbledore sighed. "What have I just released upon the world?"

…

"Talon!" Heather yelled with a grin on her face. Her excitement at flying with the raven-feathered Griffin was temporarily chasing away her fatigue.

"_Heather?_" Talon called back, running through the trees towards her. He then spoke into her mind, _What are you doing here? Isn't it time for all apprentices to be asleep?_

_I got permission to take you out and fly with you,_ Heather beamed.

Talon reared up importantly. _I shall fly like no other! _he proudly declared.

_I'm sure you will,_ Heather smiled, opening the gate, and chanting a song-like spell. Light flared up, and she had to contain her excitement; Nicholas had told her that she would start to develop the ability to see magic, and it seemed that he was right. She could see layers of spell-work coming down as a result to her chant as she waved her wand.

When there was a huge hole where the magic on the gate was, she gestured for Talon to come out. He proudly strutted out of the cage and Heather stopped chanting, letting the wards fall back into place.

_Where shall we go first? _Heather asked.

Talon seemed to smirk. _Leave that to me, young one._

Before Heather could say anything, the huge Griffin ducked down and tossed her onto his back. She gasped, clutching his feathers in her hands as he jumped into the sky. Once they were in the air he slowed to a steady glide.

_Don't you love the feel of the wind?_ Talon asked happily.

_Yes,_ Heather responded dryly. _What I do not like is when I get tossed onto someone's back and immediately start flying without a chance to fix my clothes,_ she grumbled, fixing her snug black clothes and adjusting her cloak.

Talon made a sound that seemed to be laughter. _Stop being grouchy and look down,_ he ordered.

Heather rolled her eyes, but did as he said and promptly gasped. They were flying hundreds of feet in the air and had a perfect view of the castle and its grounds. The sky was clear and the stars twinkled back at themselves from the reflection in the lake.

Heather sighed contently, changing her position so that she would be laying her head on the Griffin's neck to get a better view of the grounds. She saw several Centaurs walk out of the Forbidden Forest to gaze up at her – or was it the stars?

Isis, in the form of a giant white tiger, bounded out behind them. She seemed to grin as she transformed into a raven to fly up to them. She flew directly at them, and flew beside them. She slowly glided to Heather's shoulder and perched herself.

"_It's beautiful tonight,_" Isis sighed, gazing at the grounds.

"That it is," Heather murmured, watching as the Giant Squid came swam around in the calm water. She was stuck with an idea. "I need to go to the lake and see if the Mermen and the squid will help if we ever fight Voldemort at Hogwarts."

"_Stop thinking about that maniac,_" Isis ordered. _"It cannot be good for your health."_

"I suppose not," Heather sighed, turning her attention to other things.

_Who was that boy that you were walking with yesterday? _Talon asked. _When Hagrid came to feed me, he mentioned something about you finding someone to love. Have you found a mate?_ Talon asked.

"What?" Heather asked confused. Who had she been walking with again?

_Oh!_

"No, no, no! Remus and I are just friends! We were walking around the lake because James and Sirius were planning a huge prank for Halloween, then I accidently let it slip that it's my birthday on the twenty-second. They insisted that I leave so that they could plan and Remus volunteered to walk with me so that I wasn't alone," Heather explained, wondering why her she felt a weird but pleasant churning in her stomach.

_Odd._

_If you say so, Your Highness,_ Talon snorted.

"Don't call me '_Your Highness'_," Heather grumbled. "I'm your friend, not your princess."

_But you are in a way. My kind allied with Godric Gryffindor, and because Godric himself approves of you, you are considered a Queen to the Griffins and by extension many magical creatures. You are also the Demon Princess – a good one, might I add – so you are considered royalty by all, and many would not mind if you ruled over them. Except the evil creatures, of course, _Talon commented.

Heather sighed. "There's no winning, is there?"

_Nope,_ Talon and Isis sang simultaneously.

Heather rolled her eyes, and leaned up on the Griffin.

"Time for me to fly with you!" she said cheerily, as she jumped from the Griffin. Isis flew from her shoulder, and Heather let herself plummet about fifty feet before her form turned into a black misty form.

_This is one thing that my father did that I appreciate,_ she projected to the other two creatures with her thoughts.

_I do too,_ Talon said, swooping down to her to play chase. Heather flew away at top speed, and the Griffin pushed himself as fast as he could, staying a few feet behind her as she maneuvered through the air.

_I'll admit that it is impressive,_ Isis grudgingly admitted, changing into a small dragon with black scales so that she could keep up with them.

Heather was about to reply when she heard a scream echo across the lake. She abrubtly stopped, almost causing Talon to run into her, and she turned towards the noise.

A fourth year Gryffindor was standing terrified in front of the Forbidden Forest and looking in to it.

Heather let out a long string of curses as she started racing towards the girl. She sent Dumbledore a patronus, telling him what was happening and landed in front of the Gryffindor.

The black mist that had been completely covering her from view before faded away revealing her dark clothes, and dark red hair that was in a French braid around her head.

She stood confidently in front of the girl, looking into the forest. When she noticed several pairs of red eyes, she quickly let her own burn brightly. She held her head high, and her entire stance was daring one of the creatures to try something.

Behind her, she heard Talon taking the fourth year back to the school and Isis, who had turned back into a raven, landed on her shoulder, glaring at the red eyes.

"You are much too predictable, Princess," a man's silky voice commented. He had a slight Romanian accent, and he stepped out of the shadows revealing a man dressed in clothing similar to her own – expensively made, snug black clothes, and a cloak that radiated darkness. His however, was different than hers. She had a guess as to who exactly he was as she looked at his handsome features; dark hair, crimson eyes, and pale skin.

The man smiled at her, showing a set of fangs. He was most defiantly who she thought he was.

He was the Prince of Vampires.

_Well, it seems that I will not be getting that relaxing sleep tonight that I had hoped for,_ she thought disappointed.

Someone moved out of the corner of her eye and more people suddenly grabbed her than she could count. The vampires had used their speed advantage.

The last thing she saw before blackness was the Prince's smiling face.

**A/N: Done! *Grin*. Okay, does anyone have some ideas for Vampire and Werewolf names? I have decided some, but any would be helpful. **


	17. Leander

**A/N: New chapter! I hope I haven't killed you all with anticipation yet! I'm mainly talking to you, 13bloodyhells. Does this extra-long chapter make up for it?**

**By the way, in the memories that are in this chapter, well, some pretty bad things happen. I didn't do into as much detail as I could have, but please tell me if I should change the rating.**

**~Shadow**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other recognizable content.**

Chapter 17

Heather slowly woke up with a pounding headache and she groaned, rolling over to clutch the soft blanket that she was wrapped in. She felt content to curl there forever – or at least until her headache went away – when she heard silky laughter coming from another room.

Heather jumped up quickly, and immediately felt like an idiot because the blood rushed to her head and she fell onto the floor. She blinked and gently put a finger to her temple, wincing when it throbbed under her gentle hand.

She slowly stood up and looked around the room. It was a huge room that was richly decorated. The color scheme seemed to be red and black.

_Figures,_ Heather thought. _Of course Vampires would like the colors red and black._

Heather then noticed that she felt _very_ undefended, a feeling that she absolutely _hated._

It did not take long for her to figure out why. _Every single one_ of her weapons were gone. There was not one left on her. She had not been weaponless since she was two years old.

For a fleeting second she thought that they had missed some of the weapons that she hid in rather inappropriate spots, but those were also gone. She felt a wave of rage. The only way that they could have gotten all of her weapons would have been to take all of her clothes off first!

Heather could feel her eyes turning red as she scanned the room for an escape. She started at the door, pulled it towards her like all prisoners doors did, but it did not budge.

Heather growled as she looked around the room again. There were no actual windows. There was an illusion of several windows, but she knew that they were fake. Weak vampires would catch on fire if they were in sunlight too long. Of course, where she was there should not be any weak ones unless they were servants – unless all of the servants were human; Vampires did like to have a source of blood close. It was storming outside, though, so it wouldn't really matter.

Heathers eyes finally found a vent at the top of the wall behind the bed, but of course it was much too small for her to fit into. An eight year old would have trouble fitting into it much less an eighteen year old.

Heather grumbled under her breath as she did a full search of the room, and noticed that there was no way out. Just as the resigned thought went through her head thunder boomed loudly and her head felt like it was about to combust with the pounding of her headache.

She stumbled, trying to make her head stop hurting so much, and grabbed anything in the room that could be considered a weapon. She picked up a candle stick that was burning, and hoped that she would have the control and energy to catch the fiends on fire.

She cautiously opened the wardrobe, expecting for there to be a boggart or something in it, but instead there were finely made clothes. She frowned at the clothes, her mind coming to a conclusion. They had brought her somewhere were there wasn't a dungeon.

Heather bit her lip, worried, at that thought. There were few places that the Vampires had that did not have dungeons. They must not have brought her to the King of Vampires' castle then. She was fairly positive that the Princes' castle also had dungeons… so where was she?

Heather sighed in frustration as she closed the door to the wardrobe. It looked like the best thing she would get was the candle holder and the fire.

Heather leaned against the door to the room, and imagine her surprise when it opened!

She stumbled, barely managing to not fall, and looked up.

In front of her was a table that had a lot of Vampires sitting at it. Sitting at the head of the table was obviously the King, sitting to each of his sides was the Queen and the Prince. There were eighteen other vampires at the table – nine beside the Prince, nine beside the Queen.

The twenty-one vampires looked at her curiously with their crimson eyes, and she stared back, blinking and looked at the items on the table. There were crystal glasses of blood and –

_Were they playing poker?!_

The Prince grinned, revealing his fangs, as he stood from the table. His image blurred as he used his speed to get to her side in less than a second.

Heather barely kept herself from jumping at his quick appearance. It had been years since she had been near Vampires that had that annoying habit to run everywhere. She frostily glared up at the Prince, knowing that her eyes were just as red as his – if not more so.

"I see the sleeping beauty is awake," the Prince commented charmingly with a roguish smile on his face that looked barely older than hers even though he was most likely several centuries old.

"Yes, so it would seem," Heather drawled, glaring at the Prince.

"Welcome to my castle, Princess," the King cut in before his son could do anything too stupid. He smiled pleasantly. "I don't believe that we have met. My name is Gabriel, King of the Vampires."

"And might I ask Gabriel, King of the Vampires, why you felt the need to kidnap me and hold me hostage in your lovely castle?" Heather asked coldly, doing her best to ignore her headache and fear.

She knew that the Vampires would kill her if they really wanted to, but she was still alive even after being there for… how long had she been there? ...But they would not suddenly kill her when they could have when she was asleep. Besides, they obviously had been getting enough blood – as was obvious from the bright crimson color of their eyes – that they would not want to drink her blood so quickly, if at all.

Besides, she could just turn her blood to poison if they tried to drink her blood. Let them choke on that!

Apparently she had gotten a strange expression on her face because the King was looking at her with a mix between caution and amusement.

"You are not being held hostage," the King said slowly. "You are our guest."

"Then why was my door locked?"

"It wasn't?" the Queen answered like it was a question. "You just opened it…"

"No," Heather retorted. "I leaned into it and it opened." A feeling of comprehension came over her. "Wait… if I'm a guest that means that the doors wouldn't open inward… so when I pulled the doors they didn't open that way so when I leaned into them they opened…"

_Well that's anticlimactic. _

"Bravo," the Prince said sarcastically as he slowly clapped.

Heather winced at the noise so close to her made her head throb.

"Urgh," she groaned, massaging her temples.

"Are you alright?" the Prince asked as he quickly stopped clapping.

"Headache," she mumbled, hoping that the throbbing would fade quickly.

The Queen appeared by the Prince immediately, and grabbed him by the ear. "What am I going to do with you, Leander?! I told you to make sure that she was unharmed!" the Queen scolded.

"I'll get our healer," a Vampire with brown hair said, disappearing as he used his speed to get out of the room.

Half a minute later the Vampire returned with a beautiful raven-haired Vampire. She came to Heather. "Thank you for getting me, Ulysses," the woman said to the brown-haired Vampire.

"You're welcome, Celeste," Ulysses inclined his head.

Celeste sniffed the air as she lightly felt Heather's head. "Hmm… you don't have a concussion. It's just a bad headache. Nothing a potion can't fix," the Vampire smiled, showing her teeth. Surprisingly, the Vampire with long curly hair was not revealing her fangs.

Celeste suddenly paused, before leaning in to smell Heather's shoulder. "You've recently been around a Werewolf," she finally declared, stepping back.

Heather gave the Vampire who looked no older than twenty-eight a long look. "Are you positive? I do not know of any Werewolves that I have been around."

"That could be bad," King Gabriel said from directly behind her. "You should be careful and investigate that."

Heather let out a strangled noise as she jumped in the air. She spun around to glare at the King, but she instead winced, massaging her temples.

"Here," Celeste said quickly, handing Heather a foggy-looking potion.

Heather cautiously took the cork out of the potion, and brought it to her nose. She smelled it, before pouring it down her mouth. It was just a headache-relieving potion – and it could not have anything added to it or it would change color.

Heather's headache melted away before she even moved the bottle from her mouth. She handed the bottle back to Celeste as she smiled gratefully. "Thank you. I didn't know how much longer I would have to deal with that headache."

Celeste nodded, before sitting in an empty seat at the table.

King Gabriel lightly touched her elbow, leading her to a seat next to Prince Leander's. She sat down in it, and barely kept herself from smirking as the Queen was still lecturing Leander on being more careful with his warriors.

"Now, now, Josephine, I'm sure that Leander won't be so foolish next time," Gabriel soothed his wife. "Right, Leander?"

"Yes, father," Leander sighed, running a hand through his dark hair.

"So just to clarify," Heather spoke up, "I'm not being held hostage or anything?"

"Correct," Gabriel nodded.

"So why did Prince Leander and his men kidnap me?"

"First," Leander cut in. "You can call me Leander, not all that formal 'Prince' junk. Second, we don't like what this supposed Dark Lord – Voldemort – is doing. He's some crazy maniac that thinks that everyone should bow to him. He promises us blood and land, but he would not give us near enough land for our numbers. We rule over all of the Vampires in the world, one-hundred acres would not be enough. And we have plenty of blood already. Many humans love to feed us. They like the feeling of us drinking a liter or two of their blood every other month."

Gabriel's mouth twitched. "I was going to say something along those lines, but it seems my son beat me to it. You, Princess, may call me Gabriel."

"And you may call me Josephine," the Queen added.

"Er, thank you. But why kidnap me? You could have just invited me," Heather pointed out.

Leander's cheeks tinged pink at that. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, well I suppose I _could_ have asked you, but you had a bloody Griffin behind you and I panicked, okay?"

Heather amusedly raised an eyebrow. "So you decided that rather than ask me civilly, which would have made Talon and Isis calm down, you freaked out when you saw Talon so you decided to knock me out and kidnap me?"

Leander squirmed. "Yes?"

Heather snorted, before turning to the King. "Why did you want to talk to me? Most people consider Dumbledore to be the leader of the Light."

Gabriel gave her a hard look. "Only the humans think that. Most other magical creatures are not so naïve to think that the war will end with Voldemort against Dumbledore. We know that it will end up between you and your father. Dumbledore may act as leader, but even he knows that you are the real leader."

"Uh…" Heather did not really know what to say about that. "How many creatures know that I'm not Dark?"

"Not that many. Do not worry. Those who oppose Voldemort will be led to you by fate," Gabriel grinned, like there was something ironic in his words. "Besides, creatures that are considered Dark, can come to you because we know you are neither Dark nor Light. You are Gray."

"Gray?"

"You know that Dark magic does not have to be evil. You know that the reason for using it is really whether it should be considered evil or not. You are not prejudiced against creatures that are considered Dark by many; you are one yourself. So, yes, you are gray," Gabriel told her. The other Vampires in the room nodded in agreement to what their King said.

Heather nodded in understanding. "So what did you want to talk about as far as not wanting to follow my father?"

"We want to help you," Ulysses piped up.

Gabriel shot the Vampire an amused look. "Ulysses is in charge of our army," he explained to Heather, "and he is indeed correct. We are offering an alliance."

"Well, I seem to be pulling in alliances this month," Heather commented. "I'll take it. What would this alliance include?"

"We are the rulers over the Vampires of the world, but some rebel against us and some are neutral. Out of the Vampire population only about a twentieth would fight for you. That is about thirty thousand. Around a tenth of our population would be willing to rebel and fight with your father. We can gather any willing to fight and get them to help you in any way possible. They can start by trying to recruit more species to your side, and eventually fight with you during the battles that you are in against Voldemort," Gabriel said.

Heather nodded. "Yes, this is a good idea. Let's do the binding agreements, then."

…

Several hours later, Heather was wishing for the bed that she had woken up in. She was drinking a glass of Coke – thank goodness they had something in the castle that was not blood so that their servants and human guests would have something to drink – and her hand was aching from the writing she had done.

"I forgot to ask before," Heather spoke up. "How long have I been here, and where are my things?" She suddenly glared at the Vampires. "Which one of you am I going to have to castrate for taking my weapons off of me?"

Gabriel gave her an amused expression. "You were unconscious for about a week, your things will be brought to you in just a moment, and Celeste removed your weapons; we always have a female remove another female's weapons."

"A week?!" Heather chocked, almost spitting Coke everywhere. "And I suppose that all of you males should be glad that a girl removed my weapons and not one of you. No one would have even found your body if you were the unlucky male to remove my weapons."

The male Vampires in the room shifted uncomfortably, suddenly very happy that Celeste had gotten the weapons off of her rather than one of them.

"I need to go back to Hogwarts. Who knows how many search parties are after me now. Albus, Fabian, Gideon, Ashton, Severus, and Regulus are probably worried that Voldemort caught me! Xavier has probably heard the news too. Great!" Heather grumbled, standing up. "Nicholas and Perenelle are probably panicking too. I've missed who-knows-how-many weeks' worth of training."

Leander smirked. "That would be a sight to see. But anyway, we have three more groups that you need to meet before you go back."

"Who?"

"You'll see," the Prince grinned. "And I have to ask. Why did you have a notebook on you that is labeled "_Competent Things I Would Do If I Was An Evil Overlord_"?

Heather's face reddened. "Well…"

…

"Who are we visiting in this forest? For that matter, where are we? Where is your father's castle at?"

"You'll know who we're visiting in a minute, and I don't know what country we're in. The people that we're about to meet are very cautious about their location getting out. My father's castle is in Romania," Leander answered, as he stepped over the root of one of the huge trees. There was moss covering many of the trees, and the landscape was beautiful.

"Fair enough," Heather sighed, wondering if she was going to get any sleep that night. A week of sleep or not, she felt like she had only gotten a few hours. She could not stop the yawn that escaped her lips.

Leander smirked at her. "Aww… is the little Demon sleepy?" he asked like he was talking to a baby.

"Prat," Heather grumbled. "You might never sleep, but I do!"

Leander just grinned as he continued to lead her through the forest. Finally, finally, they came to a stop in front of a large rock. Heather looked at it curiously, but Leander just mumbled something under his breath. A crack appeared in the rock, and it started to open.

Heather eagerly reached out her mind to feel how the rock moved, hopeful that it would help her later to unlock her earth powers. She felt a faint, almost unnoticeable, tingling running from her stomach all the way to her fingertips.

_Yes,_ she thought happily. _Maybe I can unlock it more as soon as I go to train at the Flamel's house._

Leander led her through the parted rock, and as soon as they were through the rock closed back.

"Why did we do that? Couldn't we have walked around the rock?" Heather asked.

"Sure, if you want to get blasted back about twenty feet," Leander snorted. "You have to go through the rock to get onto their land."

Heather stayed quiet as she noticed that the trees were getting even bigger (some even thirty feet in diameter!), and that some of them had doors in the trunk or even windows.

People – were they people? – were poking their heads out of the tree-houses and from gardens. They were all inhumanly beautiful, very tall, and had pointed ears.

Heather curiously examined her surroundings, as Leander led her through the woods by her elbow. The trees with houses in them were getting even wider, and they finally came to a stop at what appeared to be the center of the civilization. There was a large temple-like structure with a fountain in front of it. The fountain was fresh water and had fish swimming in it.

Leander led her through the archway of the temple, and brought her to the end of the temple. There was a small waterfall there and on either side of it was a throne.

On the one to the left was a man wearing blue who seemed to be in his twenties, but he had too much intelligence and wisdom in his eyes for him to be that young. His hair fell almost to his waist in silky platinum blond strands. His icy blue eyes bore into her with a curious look. His skin was pale, his ears pointed, and he had a crown made from silver and sapphire.

The throne on the opposite side of the waterfall was a beautiful woman who appeared to be the same age as the man. Her skin was pale and contrasted shockingly with her raven hair that was in an elegant up-do. Her ears were pointed like the man's, and her crown was made out of silver and emerald. The emerald stones matched her eyes and her clothes.

"This is Heather Riddle, Your Majesties," Leander introduced, bowing to the King and Queen on the thrones.

"Your Majesties," Heather inclined her head respectfully, wondering what species they were.

"You are curious, child," the Queen observed.

"Yes. I'm afraid that Prince Leander just dragged me here without telling me where we were going." She shrugged.

"Leander," the Queen scolded. "You could have at least told her where you were taking her!"

Heather felt a sense on deja vu as she watched Leander get scolded by a Queen. She idly wondered if he had Queens scolding him often.

"Ignoring Leander and Crescent, we are called Wood Elves," the King informed her. "We are related to the High Elves that are unfortunately not alive anymore. Some of our distant relatives are the House Elves."

Heather hummed thoughtfully, letting her thoughts run through all of the books that she had read in the expansive library in her father's castle. Yes, she remembered several books on them. She looked up. "Most people believe that you're kind are extinct."

"Yes," the King nodded. "We try to prevent people from being aware of our presence unless we want them to know. So far we have succeeded."

Heather nodded. They must have been good if she had never heard of them. She had many contacts in her father's army.

"But where are my manners?" the King asked rhetorically. "My name is Antaeus."

"In Greek mythology the son of the Earth and Sea was named Antaeus," Heather said, recalling when she had studied what muggles considered myths.

"Yes," Antaeus beamed. "Not many people know of my name-sake. I see that it was wise inviting you here!"

"Thanks?" Heather asked.

Leander suddenly tossed an arm casually around her shoulder. He had finally gotten away from Queen Crescent's scolding then. He ginned at Antaeus. "We only have around, say five hours. We've got to get an arrangement done by then."

"Of course," the King inclined his head.

Heather shook the Prince arm off of her shoulder as she wondered if he was mentally stable. He seemed too confident for his own good.

"What kind of arrangement are we talking about?" Heather asked.

Crescent's exasperated voice rang out through the temple. "Leander! You didn't tell her anything!"

"I'm sorry, okay!" Leander exclaimed, holding his hands up in surrender.

Crescent gave the Vampire a long look before turning to Heather with a bright smile. "We want to know what all is happening with the war. If we feel the need, we shall come out of hiding to help get rid of this Dark Lord. We do not want to risk our people's safety unless it is completely necessary. If this Dark Lord may take over, we cannot risk that he will wipe us out."

Heather nodded. "Basically, my father wants to rule the world. He knows more Dark Magic than most people could comprehend. Right now it's about a fifty/fifty chance that he will win the war. If he wins then he will try for world domination. He is trying to make alliances with many people, and several leaders have made alliances with me in the past month, because they have declared me as the leader of the Light."

Antaeus spoke up, "May I look into your mind to see some of the things you have witnessed from your time with your father?"

"As long as you make a binding oath that you will not look at anything that I do not want you to," Heather nodded.

"Of course," Antaeus promised, making the oath.

The King gracefully stood up; his clothes making a flowing effect around him as if it was weaved from water. He strode up to her, his long legs making it easy. He stopped in front of her, towering over her even though she was actually rather tall (though many boys her age were taller than her).

He gently pressed his fingers to her temples as he looked into her eyes, and Heather felt herself being pulled into memories as she let him through her Occlumenecy shields.

…

_A six year old Heather walked through the stone halls rather gracefully, especially considering her age. She was obviously in a hurry, and the reason became evident when loud screams echoed from her father's throne room._

Why did I ever idolize him?_ she sadly asked herself. _Of course, I was only a toddler. I didn't know what he was doing.

_She sighed as she took a moment to collect herself before pushing open the double-doors. _

_Standing along the walls were several Death Eaters in their robes without their masks. As their cold yet delighted eyes bore into her small figure, Heather was grateful for the Shadow Cloak that she was wearing that hid her face from view. _

_Only practice kept her from shivering or even making her throw up at the sight that was in the middle of the floor._

_There was a muggle woman that could have only been thirty years old. She had no clothes on, and it was obvious what had happened to the poor woman. Her screams once again echoed through the room as Lord Voldemort fired a lazy Crucio from his throne._

"_Please," the woman sobbed as the curse was lifted from her. "I have children at home. They need me."_

_Voldemort smirked cruelly. "These children?" he drawled as two Death Eaters came from behind Heather holding two bound girls that were identical and looked like they were six years old. They were both crying._

_The twins were tossed to the floor in front of their mother, and the two Death Eaters that brought them in both pointed their wands at the children._

_The girls screams sounded and Heather's heart banged horrified as the mother tried to get to her daughters that were getting tortured before her eyes._

_Voldemort snapped his fingers and the woman stopped moving, stuck in place by Voldemort's magic._

_He nodded to another set of Death Eater's in the room, and they both stepped forward, pulling axes out as they stared with delighted expressions at the children._

_Heather's stomach churned horribly as she had to watch the children get beheaded with two dull thuds._

_The woman's sobs were heartbreaking as she looked at her daughters bodies._

"_Avada Kedavra," Voldemort whispered with a satisfied smile as the woman's sobs stopped abruptly as the green light hit her._

_Heather swallowed, her throat dry, as cold laughter broke through the ranks of Death Eaters._

…

"_But, father!" Heather, this time seven, protested._

"_You will, daughter," Voldemort's cold voice ordered. He was once again sitting in his throne that was even blacker than his hair. The Death Eaters were not there._

_Heather kept her face blank as she did not have the protection of her cloak this time. Her father could see every emotion that flashed across her face. She had to be strong. She would get away from her father one day._

"_Of course, father," she answered, swallowing the bile that wanted to rise in her throat. She turned around stiffly, gazing down pityingly to the teenager laying there. She couldn't have even been sixteen. _

_She raised her wand with a steady hand even though she wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball with a book in her bedroom. "Crucio," she muttered, watching with sad eyes as the girl screamed loudly. She held the curse knowing that there was nothing else that she could do. She could fight well, but she was no match to her father. _

Maybe by the time I'm of age… _she thought hopefully as she released the poor girl from the curse. The teen's blonde locks of hair fell around her face that was covered in sweat. The girl stared up with a defiant look in her blue eyes, and Heather could not help but admire the girl's bravery. She knew that she would most likely die that night, yet she still had courage._

"_I'm so sorry," Heather mouthed to the girl as she sent the killing curse at her._

_The blonde's eyes had given her a shocked look of understanding and empathy lit up her eyes, before all emotion left her eyes as they glossed over. The girl's body slumped to the ground lifeless._

_Heather stared down with hard, emotionless eyes. Her father's cold hand rested on her shoulder. "You did well, my daughter. You shall be my most precious gem."_

_Heather barely kept herself from recoiling from her father's proud voice. _

_She had been forced to kill before, of course, but this was the first time that her father had made her Crucio them too. Normally she would kill the people after her father and his Death Eaters had had their fun with them. Normally Heather would not have to look into their eyes as their life left them. But this time she had watched the light leave the blonde's fierce eyes._

_Heather excused herself not long after that, and as soon as she got to her room she lay down sobbing as she buried her head into her pillow. _

_That night she made a vow to get revenge for the teen that she did not even know the name of; she vowed for all of the people that her father and his followers had killed. She would stop him one day…_

…

_Heather, twelve years old, looked over the burning city with emotionless eyes. She watched as people were dragged from their homes and tortured. Some were left for insane, some were killed, and some had unimaginable things happen to them._

_Heather took a deep breath that was slightly shaky as she raised her wand to the sky. "Morsmorde!" she called, the cursed mark coming out of her wand._

_Heather pushed her hair that was a disguised brown out of her face. She joined the battle again, and flung the killing curse left, right, front, and center. It would be better for them to die from her painless curse than the way that some were dying. _

_Heather saw her father smirking at the destruction, and his eyes met hers momentarily with a proud expression as he saw the numbers that were dying from her hands._

_Heather's lip trembled unnoticeably as she turned from her father's crimson eyes. He would pay for this! He had killed too many! Her anger bumbled through her and she felt her eyes starting to burn the color that her father's always were – he was always angry. Her hatred made her curses stronger and everyone within a five foot distance of were her curse hit was falling as well. _

_She ignored the raised eyebrow that her father was sending her way. He gave her an appraising look, as he gave her a cold smirk. He was proud of her for being so adept and powerful at that vile curse!_

_Her eyes were glowing brighter than ever and she could feel her wild magic starting to crackle around her. She didn't even notice when the fires burned higher, the winds picked up, and it started to rain as lightning flashed across the sky. Darkness swirled angrily around her, and she started to storm through the city, trying her best not to attempt to kill her father._

_He had mentioned many a time that he had found a way to survive death. She would have to destroy this way before she could attempt anything. _

_When she noticed that anyone who got caught in the darkness swirling around her was dying, she craftily moved closer to Death Eaters, and took down seven before she put a confused expression on her face as she stepped back._

_Her dark aura faded, the fire lessened, the wind and rain stopped. It was eerily quiet._

_Voldemort broke the silence with his cold, maniacal laughter. Many Death Eaters joined him, and Heather realized that there were no villagers left. They were all dead; a majority had fallen from her curses._

_Heather's eyes turned back to the baby blue that they were disguised to, and she resisted tears. She refused to cry for the first time since she had first watched the light fade from someone's eyes._

_She would escape. It was only a matter of time…_

…

_Heather, thirteen, leaned into Xavier's side. The Werewolf was fifteen._

"_I hate him," she whispered miserably._

"_Shh," Xavier whispered. "It'll be okay. He'll be stopped one day."_

_Heather's eyes got a cold look in them. "I want to be the one to watch the life leave his eyes; the shocked look on his face as he realizes that he is not coming back."_

_Xavier just tightened arm that was around her. Heather pressed herself tighter into his side. The Werewolf hissed in pain, though, and she quickly leaned away from him._

"_I'm fine," Xavier said before she could apologize. "This last full moon was just ruff."_

_Heather let out a breath that was shaking with anger. "I will destroy Greyback one day for doing this to you," she swore, "and I will find a cure for Lycanthropy for you."_

"_I'm sure you will find one eventually, but you've been working on it for so many years already." Xavier shrugged, resigned. "I might not be around when you finish it."_

"_Never say that!" Heather hissed. "I will finish it, and you will never have to worry about the full moon again!"_

_Xavier looked down at her with sad eyes. "You know just as well as I do that Werewolves have a shortened life-span."_

"_You will get that cure if it is the last thing that I do! And you will escape from here with me one day," she declared determinedly._

…

_A fourteen year old Heather licked her lips nervously as she edged towards her friends rooms. Her plan would start that night. She would escape her father's castle with Xavier._

_She was almost to her friend's room when his door slammed open. Several Death Eaters swarmed inside, and he was dragged out with a bloody lip just a minute later._

"_Our lord is not happy with you," Greyback snarled at him, hitting his face, leaving a mark where the ring had cut his face. _

_Heather winced at the sharp noise that echoed from the strike. She looked at her friend with an urgent look, and she inclined her head at Greyback._

_Xavier just shook his head, begging her with his eyes to leave him. Luckily, the Death Eaters did not notice._

"_You're escaping with me," she mouthed determined._

_He just shook his head with sad eyes. "Go," he mouthed back as the Death Eaters yanked him behind them._

_Heather watched helplessly with tears building up in her eyes as her friend kept looking at her, clearly expecting for her to leave._

"_For me," he mouthed, looking at her with a hopeful look._

_She swallowed thickly, finally nodding. "I'll come back for you one day," she mouthed the promise._

_Heather shakily went through the corridors, glaring darkly at anyone that passed her. No one was stupid enough to say anything. They all knew that Voldemort was fond of her. _

_She finally came to a stop at the gates. "Let me through," she ordered the man at the gates. "I have explicit orders from our lord to leave immediately and return with a first-year Mudblood for a ritual."_

_The man nodded, opening the gate for her. _

_Heather quickly left the castle, and apparated away from the evil place. She stumbled through London, finally stopping in a small park that was empty. She dissolved in tears for the first time in seven years. She had not left with her best friend. He was probably being tortured at that exact minute. _

_Her tears came faster as she leaned against a tree, and she did nothing to try to calm herself. She cried for herself, she cried for the people that she had killed and her father had killed, she cried because of the cruelness of the world, and she cried for Xavier._

_The only thing that made her latch onto staying alive was the image of the blonde girl's blue eyes staring determinedly into hers._

_She would remain determined. If the blonde girl could, then she would too._

_She stood up with a fiercely determined look on her face and she noticed the man with half-moon spectacles walking towards her. _

_She recognized the man as Albus Dumbledore, the man who might be able to help her. She raised her head, tears silently falling down her face, as she hoped beyond all hope that the man could and would help her._

…

Heather gasped and the only thing that kept her from falling over was Leander suddenly appearing behind her to catch her.

The King looked at her with a horrified and pitiful look.

Heather ignored this as she shivered with blank eyes as she leaned into Leander. The Prince just pulled her to his chest as she was lost in memories.

"I'm sorry," Antaeus whispered. "I was not aware of how horrible that would be for you."

Crescent looked between her husband and the shaking Princess. "What happened?"

Antaeus looked at his wife with a mournful expression. "The things she has had to endure… it's horrible. Heather, we will most defiantly ally ourselves with you. Come, come," he urged. "Let's get you into a bed to sleep."

Leander easily picked her up and followed Antaeus and Crescent as they led them to a richly furnished home in a tree.

"Lay her there," the King said, nodding to a large bed. He rummaged through one of the drawers, finally pulling out a Dreamless Sleep Potion. "Drink this," he ordered, handing Heather the bottle.

Heather drank it without a second thought. She felt a calmness rush over her body as she faded into unconsciousness.

…

When Heather woke she felt horrible, and the reason why came back with a rush when the memories came to the front of her mind. She grabbed her bag, pulling out a Calming Draught and quickly chugged the liquid down.

A feeling of bliss overtook her and Heather sighed, relieved.

She dragged herself from the bed, wondering where she could buy the fabric that the blankets were made of. They were softer than anything she had ever felt. She walked out of the room, and found Leander, Antaeus, and Crescent talking in hushed voices over a long roll of parchment. The trio looked up when they heard her enter even though she the only noise she made was her breathing that was not silent like it normally was.

"Are you alright?" Leander asked from directly from her side. Heather didn't even blink at his sudden appearance. She was starting to get used to Vampires that ran at their full speed to get everywhere.

"I'm fine," Heather said calmly, infinitely glad that she had the Calming Draught.

Leander sniffed the air as she spoke. He gave her an exasperated look. "You shouldn't take that potion too often. It can be addictive."

Heather just raised her eyebrow. "Bloody Vampire sense of smell," she grumbled.

Leander just smiled at her charmingly. "We started the contract," he informed her, leading her to the table. "You just need to sign it and add whatever you want to be added."

"Thank you," Heather smiled at them gratefully.

…

"Where are we going now?" Heather asked, now more cheery.

"The Rocky Mountains," Leander said blankly, as he apparated them.

Heather smiled as she looked at their new surroundings. "Okay. Are we going hiking?"

"Something like that," Leander snorted, putting a ball cap on. At her curious look he explained. "The sun may not catch me on fire, but I can get a sunburn."

Heather just nodded.

Leander led her along the mountain range, and after nearly an hour of her looking happily at the beautiful scenery Leander came to a stop in front of a rock wall.

She looked at him curiously, but he just pressed his palm to the rock. A bright light flashed and the rock seemed to crumble under his hand.

He gave her a mock-bow as he gestured to the path that led into the mountain.

Heather just shrugged, walking into the mountain. Leander followed her inside and the mountain closed behind them. There only light was coming from the torches lining the walls. Leander pulled his hat off.

About fifteen minutes later they came to a stop in front of a door made out of pure silver that had gemstones imbedded in it.

Heather raised an eyebrow, but Leander just knocked on the center of the door. The door swung open, and she was led inside by the Vampire.

Two small men, who were Dwarves, Heather realized, fell into step right behind them as Leander confidently walked through the twisting and turning hallways. She personally thought that it was more like a labyrinth.

After an immeasurable amount of time they paused in front of two huge doors that put any other door to shame. They were solid gold, and every gemstone imaginable was imbedded in them.

A Dwarf standing by the door in full battle armor pulled out a horn and blew it. The sound echoed loudly, and the massive doors opened smoothly.

It revealed a throne room with a single throne with a male Dwarf sitting on it. He was wearing what looked like bear hide and had a huge battle axe on his belt.

"Welcome, my guests," the King boomed, his mouth braking into a smile under his black beard and mustache.

"We are glad to be here, Dorbir," Leander said. Heather nodded in agreement.

"I see that you have finally brought the Princess to see me," King Dorbir commented to the Vampire Prince.

"Of course, Your Majesty. I'm taking her to meet a quite a few people today. Later she'll either want to kill me or she'll fall asleep on me."

Dorbir nodded, before turning to Heather. "We have much to discuss, Princess."

"Where do we start?" Heather asked cheerily, wondering how many allies she would get by the day's end.

"First, I should tell you my reasons for asking you to be brought here," the King said. "Your Ministry of Magic has not been fair to my kind, especially in England. About one-hundred years ago it got too bad for my kind to remain. So we left the country and came to the Rocky Mountains instead. The wizarding world is much more kind to us here. We Dwarves want to have some of our land back in England eventually, mainly because some of them are very important to my people."

He continued, "I do not want this Dark Lord to win the war, because if he does we will lose the land that we have obtained here. He would wipe out the Dwarves, and then there would be no more of us. He sent people to come to us and ask for our alliance, but they only offered to let us keep a fourth of our land. That is much too little for my people to prosper. We want to help you destroy this Dark Lord so that we may keep our land. If you can, we would also appreciate it if you could try and get us some rights and some of our land back."

Heather nodded slowly. "Yes, I can see promise in this. My father would probably do something like that if he won, and I can use all of the help I can get. Plus, I already planned on trying to get rid of some of the corruptness in the Ministry already."

She nodded again, looking into the Dwarf King's eyes. "Let's get an alliance written up!"

Dorbir beamed at her.

…

"Come on. We just have one more place to go," Leander promised her as he tugged her behind him.

"I don't see why you can't carry me. You have Vampire strength, and I am but a weak Demon," she complained, wondering why the sleep she had had at in the Wood Elves kingdom gave her so little energy.

_Oh,_ Heather realized with a grimace. _I haven't eaten in a week. Great. And here I was hoping that wouldn't happen again after I escaped MoldyShorts._

Leander smirked. "I think that's the first time I've ever heard a Demon of any kind say that their weak. You're all so arrogant."

Heather snorted. "Yes, and you're so down to Earth."

"I'm wounded," Leander said, putting a hand over his heart in mock-pain.

Heather reached out to lightly shove him.

"Rude," he sniffed, as he finally stepped out of the shields against apparition. He grabbed her arm and spun on the spot, apparating them.

Heather curiously looked at her new surroundings. They were in the middle of a vast plain, and directly in front of them was a Greek-style temple. There were huge torches along the temple, and she had to admit that it looked very impressive, especially in the darkness of twilight.

To each side of the temple there was a path that led to circular stone ruin-like structures that Heather recognized as places for rituals. The one to the left was meant for 'Light' rituals while the one to the right was meant for 'Dark' rituals.

Leander smirked at the expression of awe on her face for a minute before he led her up the steps of the temple. She attempted to pause to read some of the runes in the pillars, but Leander just rolled his eyes and tugged her along.

Heather frowned at her friend and instead just looked around at how the temple was laid out. She could not resist a sly grin as she realized that the temple seemed to be devoted to the main four elements: Fire, Air, Water, and Earth.

Leander raised an eyebrow at her smirk, but just rolled his eyes and continued to tug her along. When they got to the back of the temple he chanted in the Old Language and the sound of stone on stone sounded.

"_Stone part, stone move, stone let us through. Keep open for us to pass, but let no one uninvited pass. Admit Prince Leander and Princess Heather," _the Vampire chanted, the Old Language coming out as if many voices were overlapping Leander's. Heather recognized what was being said, and wondered if she could get her hands on some of the books that had Old Magic in them. Merlin's journals that she had gotten from Gringotts probably had some in them…

The stone finally stopped, revealing a dark staircase.

"Here's a good time for you to practice your fire powers. This place was used in the beginning of time so this entire place is magic. It's easier to do any kind of magic here," Leander told her, gesturing for her to go first.

Heather nodded, holding her palm towards the ceiling as she flicked her other hand towards one of the lit torches. Fire flew from it and landed in her palm. She continued to hold her palm up and dropped her other hand.

"Come on," she whispered to Leander. "I won't be able to hold the flame for more than thirty minutes. I can feel it feeding off of my energy."

"You'll be able to hold it for thirty minutes?" Leander asked surprised. "Most Elementals wouldn't be able to hold it for that long yet."

Heather shrugged as they descended the staircase. "Nicholas said that I was actually already using my abilities in some ways without realizing it."

Leaner nodded, a thoughtful look coming into his crimson eyes. "I suppose that that would make sense."

Heather fell into step with Leander as a comfortable silence came over them.

They plunged into the darkness, and after going down at least one hundred feet, the stairs stopped and turned into a hallway.

Heather could see the outline of some torches directly around her, and she smirked as she momentarily closed her hand over the fire in her palm. She heard Leander exclaim in protest to the sudden darkness, but she just pushed her hands out to either side and the fire flew from her hands, lighting the torches along the hallway.

Heather smirked at Leander's shocked look, and she started forward down the long, now lit, cobblestone hallway.

Leander's footsteps lightly echoed despite his soft steps, and he frowned at Heather. "How are your feet not making any sound?"

"Silencing charms," Heather grinned. "I might be quiet naturally, but as you can see now, it always is helpful for all of your clothes to be silenced."

Leander got a thoughtful look on his face. "I need to do that."

Heather just got a crafty smirk on her face, as they came to a stop at the end of the hallway. In front of them was a wall with rune inscription covering it.

Heather frowned at it as she flicked her wrist, summoning a ball of fire to her. She ignored her waning energy as she read what it said.

"_Thou who art invited, precede on with no worry._

_Thou who cometh unwelcome to this temple, shall heed our warning:_

_Thou art in for trouble._

_Henceforth, thou shall regret thine choice to cometh hither._

_Thou who durst beseech treasure shall have come here for naught._

_Beware coming farther, for thou shall not escape unscathed. _

_Thou have read thine warning; thou should leave while thee still has a chance."_

"Well that's comforting," Heather drawled sarcastically, letting the fire return to a torch. "Are we welcome, or are we going to end up dead?"

"We're invited," Leander told her, placing a hand over one of the runes. "Open. We art guests," he whispered in the Old Language.

The door crumbled beneath his hand, and he led her through the newly made doorway. As soon as she stepped through the wall closed again, and she frowned grimly as she felt the powerful magic in the new room bristle curiously at Leander and her.

"Welcome, Your Highnesses," a loud man's voice suddenly echoed through the room.

Heather put a hand on her wand, but she could not find the source of the voice. Leander just shook his head at her as he replied, "We are glad to be here. May we please enter?"

The voice did not respond, but the room started to slowly rotate, causing a grumble of stone on stone.

A door opened as the room finally stopped.

Leander walked through the door and Heather followed behind him.

She curiously looked at the new room, as the door closed behind her. The room they were in was circular and had ten thrones evenly in the walls. As she observed the wall expanded and two more thrones appeared. Leander sat in one of them, and he motioned for her to sit in the other. She complied as she looked at the main light source for the room.

It was a pool of lava with a foot of water lying on top of it. Heather gave it a curious look, because the touching water and lava were not reacting to each other at all.

She turned her attention back to the rest of the cobblestone room. In between each throne was a large bowl of fire, and the flames' shadows licked the walls of the chamber.

Each person in the room – except Leander and Heather – had every part of their body covered. It was impossible to tell who was male and who was female. Everyone in the room was wearing pitch black, and all of them were facing her.

"Where are we?" Heather asked Leander.

A person who appeared to be the leader spoke up, "You are with the Council of the Secret Chamber, Princess."

Heather looked at the person who had spoken with a deep voice curiously. "You are the people who sent me that letter with those files?"

"Yes." The man nodded, lowering his hood. He was in his forties, had brown hair, and battle-hardened blue eyes. "I am the leader Elmont."

"It's nice to meet you, Elmont," Heather said.

Elmont nodded and, as if on cue, everyone else in the chamber removed their own hoods. Including Elmont, there were five males and there were five females.

Elmont continued, "These are Jonas, Orion, Bradley, and Luke," he nodded to the males. "These are Beatrice, Victoria, Eleanore, Margaret, and Sadie."

"It is nice to meet you," Heather replied, her eyes lingering on the man introduced at Orion. He had an uncanny resemblance to Sirius and Regulus. "What is your last name?" she asked him.

"Black," Orion said with no hesitation.

"Are you related to Sirius and Regulus?"

"I am their father," Orion easily answered.

Heather sat up straighter in her throne. "I was under the impression that all Blacks were followers of Voldemort except for them."

"You are incorrect," Orion said, staring into her eyes levelly. "I am a spy for the Council."

Heather nodded and turned her head to Elmont. "I wish for everyone in this chamber to swear a binding oath of honesty and then I want the answers to some of my questions."

Elmont easily agreed, and everyone in the Council took an oath of honesty.

"Were you telling the truth, Orion?" Heather started.

"Yes," Orion told her.

"Good." She turned her attention back to the leader. "How well off is the CSC?"

"Better than the Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry," Elmont said immediately.

"How many members are there?" she asked.

"Thousands."

"Is the Council willing to help me defeat Voldemort?"

"Yes," Elmont told her as he looked into her eyes.

"What kind of contacts do you have?"

"In every department and important organization of every country in the world," Elmont said.

Heather paused. "That many?" she asked, confused.

Elmont nodded.

Heather let out a low whistle. "What is the purpose of the CSC?"

"To keep the world from getting too corrupt. Our main mission right now is to get rid of Voldemort and then wipe the prejudice and bigotry out of the United Kingdom," Elmont solemnly stated.

"You speak his name," Heather observed.

"It is foolish to fear a name unless they put a spell on it to track any who say it," Elmont said.

Heather nodded in agreement. "What are the CSC's opinion on Dark and Light magic?"

"It is the intent of the magic that matters," Elmont told her. "In fact, did you know that the unforgivable curses did not start out with the intent to harm? The Cruciatus curse was used to correct nerve damage, the killing curse was used to kill animals for food painlessly, and the Imperius curse was invented for herding."

"Really?" Heather asked thoughtfully. "That would explain the casual comments about them in some of the ancient journals that I'm reading."

Elmont nodded.

"What about so called 'Dark Creatures'?"

"We are not prejudiced. We would not have invited a Demon and Vampire here if we were. We have no problems with people who have weird talents. In fact, Jonas is a Necromancer and a Vampire."

Heather turned to the dark haired man that looked like he could not have been more than five years her senior. He stared back at her with dark eyes that indicated that he had not fed in weeks. "You are a Necromancer?"

"Yes." He inclined his head. "I am the Head of the Death Magic section of the Council."

"Is someone born with Necromancy or do they learn it?" she asked him.

"Born," he responded, giving her a blank look at her slightly disappointed face. "All Demons have the potential," he added.

"I could learn it?" Heather asked eagerly.

"I can sense the power on you, but whether you can unlock it or not is up to you," Jonas told her.

"I don't suppose you have any books on it do you?" she asked with a wry grin.

"Even better," he smiled at her. "I can train you of you agree to work with the Council."

Heather turned to Elmont. "Your people will teach me if I agree to work alongside the Council?"

"Yes," Elmont nodded. "We would just make an alliance, and we will help you in any way we can."

Heather nodded. "Looks like I'm going to get another alliance written today then."

The Council of the Secret Chamber members smiled at her.

…

"I'm sleepy and everyone is probably panicking about where I am," Heather commented.

"Your fault for being unconscious for a week." Leander shrugged.

"You're the one who ordered your men to knock me out!"

Leander just flashed his fangs at her, teasingly. "Touchy!" he responded, letting his fangs melt back into his teeth.

Heather rolled her eyes at him as she knocked on the gates in front of Hogwarts. "I hope they let us in," she commented.

"They will," Leander said confidently. "We can just break in if they don't."

Heather reached up to hit him in the back of the head as the gates opened with a creak.

"That's welcoming," Leander snorted as they walked through the gates. "All that's missing is creepy music, fog, and a graveyard."

Heather gave him an exasperated look. "I'm sure. We've already got a Vampire for the villain role."

Leander pouted at her, but she ignored him as Isis, still disguised as a raven, landed on her shoulder. Isis glared at Leander darkly.

"Heather!" Three voices broke them out of their staring at Isis.

Dumbledore, Fabian, and Gideon were swiftly walking across the dark grounds.

Leander stepped to her immediate right, flanking her, as the three men cautiously paused, eyeing Leander with mistrust.

"Albus, Fabian, Gideon." She nodded at them. "Might I introduce Leander, Prince of the Vampires."

Leander grinned at them, revealing his fangs, as he gave them a mock-bow. "A pleasure to meet you."

Dumbledore looked between the two with a calculating look. "Come to my office," he finally said, turning to lead the way into the school.

Heather and Leander just shrugged as they followed, Heather casting a notice-me-not charm on the Vampire. She started whistling a cheery tune as they walked through the castle's quiet halls, and Leander joined her in her whistling.

The three men in front of them looked back with confused looks, but Heather just grinned at them.

They finally went up the staircase and into the headmaster's, the door closed behind them. Dumbledore sat behind his desk and spoke, "Heather, where have you been?"

"This idiot," she motioned to Leander, "kidnapped me and brought me to his father's castle, made alliance between me and the Vampires, then took me to the Wood Elves, Dwarves, and the CSC to make more alliances. So basically we have a lot more help against Voldemort."

"And Heather now has to go back six weeks each day to train," Leander added.

"Six weeks?" Heather hissed.

"Yes." The Prince nodded. "One with the Flamels, one with the Vampires, one with the Dwarves, one with the Elves, one with the CSC, and one with the Goblins."

"What is the CSC?" Dumbledore cut in.

"An organization that puts the Order to shame. The Council works with the entire World, but until Voldemort is gone and the Ministry less corrupt, they will be working on the United Kingdom," Leander said.

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, his eyes sparkling. "I shouldn't be surprised that this happened to you, Heather. If anyone could find themselves in this situation, you fit the description perfectly."

"Next you're going to say that you're going to train with a Necromancer," Fabian snorted.

"Er…" Heather began, sheepishly.

"You didn't!" Gideon exclaimed.

"Sorry?"

"Heather!" the three Order members groaned.

…

"Well, that was eventful!" Scarlett grinned, brown eyes glowing as she looked at the Council of Thirteen and the four Hogwarts' Founders.

"Yes, yes." Salazar waved his hand. "_Now_ can she go visit Slinky? She's probably starving down there!"

"Be patient!" Scarlett said. "We still need to get Heather to go to the muggle government! And she needs to spend some time just being a teen!"

"What kind of teen wouldn't think that discovering the Chamber of Secrets and a giant Basilisk is fun?" Salazar retorted.

"We still need to bring her here," Altar reminded.

"She needs to give Dumbledore the list of things that need improved in the school," Rowena said.

"And Lightning and Serenity need to meet her," Rosalie piped up.

"So? Slinky needs to –" Salazar froze. "Who are Lightning and Serenity?"

"The Blue Phoenix and the Gemstone Dragon," Scarlett said, waving the questions away. "She will meet Slinky eventually!"

"She's already met a Griffin! Why can't she meet my Basilisk?"

Godric grinned. "Because Griffin's are better!"

"No they are not!" Salazar denied.

"Ye –" Godric began.

"Would you two shut up?!" Helena suddenly shouted, startling the people in the building. She rarely lost her temper. "You've been acting like five year olds since we started the school! People even think that you stormed away from the school because of muggle-borns, Salazar!"

The two Founders paused. Salazar finally retorted, "They are foolish for thinking such a thing! You know as well as I do that I never hated muggle-borns! I just didn't trust them. Muggles were trying to destroy us; I had every right to be cautious!"

"But they don't know that," Rowena reminded him. "Over the years all of our houses have gone corrupt. Ravenclaw is filled with arrogant people who think they are better than anyone else and are reading their lives away, Gryffindor is filled with idiots that never seem to think, Hufflepuff is filled with self-conscious fools that let themselves get bullied, and Slytherin is filled with prejudiced jerks that need a reality check. That is why we chose Heather as our heir – to fix that. People who completely deserve to be in a house are so rare right now."

The other three Founders nodded solemnly after a moment of thought.

"Now that we've got that cleared up," Bernard began, "what's next on our list?"

Scarlett leaned forward. "Here's what we do…"

**A/N: Woah, this chapter is long. It took 30 word pages. Maybe I can get some brownie points for this? **


	18. Voldie Musical

**A/N: Next chapter! This chapter will have the Marauders in it for any of you that are annoyed at the lack of Marauder action. And the beginning of Heather and Remus is starting to come up. **

**On a completely unrelated note (seriously unrelated – I'm not being sarcastic), I got to pet a snake today and it felt really cool. It's scales were cold and, while it did feel a little greasy, it felt like nothing I've ever felt before.**

**~Shadow**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other recognizable content.**

"Where're you going?" Leander asked as they left the headmaster's office.

"The kitchens," Heather said, glancing at the Vampire from the corner of her eye.

"I'm coming," he decided, keeping his pace matching her own.

Heather did not answer, just continued to walk. The portraits curious eyes followed them, but she ignored them. She knew that everything that they saw would be reported to Dumbledore and become common gossip between the portraits by morning at the latest.

Heather finally came to a stop in front of the hidden kitchen entrance and, ignoring Leader's curious look, tickled the pear. She walked into the kitchen a step in front of her friend, and was almost immediately swarmed by eager House Elves.

"Your Highness!" Honey, the Head elf, exclaimed upon seeing her. The elf's eyes widened upon seeing Leander. "You're a Vampire," she stated shakily.

"Indeed."

Heather jumped in before the arrogant idiot could do something stupid. "This is the Prince of Vampires, Leander."

"I'm sorry, Your Highness," Honey yelped, bowing for the Vampire. "What do you both require?"

Heather tilted her head to the side, thoughtfully. "I need something to eat that won't hurt my stomach; I haven't eaten in a week. If you have any blood, Leander here can drink that. If worse comes to worst he can do without or he could drink some of mine."

"Is that a good idea?" Leander asked her as Honey rushed to get what they wanted with the help of the other elves. "Your blood is different than human blood. It might be addictive for Vampires."

"True…" Heather nodded slowly. "I suppose it would be a bad idea unless we were on some kind of trip and you were going to die if you didn't drink blood within a few hours. Then you'd drink my blood, no complaints."

Leander just nodded, and grinned when a House Elf carried a gallon of blood to him. "What kind?" he asked as he opened the bottle. "Ah, cow," he observed as he sniffed it. He shrugged and took a sip of it. "Not that bad, but human blood is better."

"Thank you for that observation," Heather said dryly as the elves placed a meal in front of her.

"You're welcome," the Prince grinned, showing his teeth and fangs that were coated in blood.

Heather scowled at him.

…

Marlene tried not to panic.

All that she had been doing was trying to eat in the kitchens when she had heard a noise outside. She had jumped behind several supply boxes, not wanting to get in trouble if it was a teacher.

Of course, it just had to be Heather; the stuck-up, good for nothing, bratty Gryffindor that had everything. She had money and friends, boys had crushes on her, and her life was round-about perfect.

Seriously, the Gryffindor had perfect skin, perfect hair, perfect everything. Marlene would bet all of her own savings that the girl had a perfect home life and past, as well.

No one was supposed to be that perfect.

Marlene seemed to be the only one to notice something off about her. There was something very wrong with the new girl. Then she had seen the answer – literally glaring at her.

Heather Riddle was not human.

The girl's eyes had turned red! She was evil! That was a mark of Darkness! Yet, no one but her saw it. No one would even believe her if she tried to tell someone. Plus, the evil Gryffindor would kill her if she said anything!

Marlene had seen some of the dueling and fighting that Heather did with the Marauders. The popular Marauders were some of the best duelers in the year, but they had not even come close to beating the girl! Heather would do gymnastics when she fought!

Then to make things even better, she just _had_ to overhear the conversation between Heather and that boy.

The bloody Prince of Vampires!

Marlene had never in her entire life been more relieved to be around stinky, uncooked food. At least it masked her scent from the blood-thirsty Vampire.

Marlene tried not to flinch as she listened to the two evil creatures banter with each other.

_And why had the bloody House Elves called her 'Your Highness'?!_

Was she a princess, too? Was being popular and loved by all not enough for her? Some Slytherins even liked her! No, to make the creature even more perfect, she was a princess!

And the Vampire had even said that her blood was not a human's! The Vampire new that she was evil, but just wanted to be her friend!

_They're going to take over the school and kill everybody!_ Marlene realized, horrified. _What can I do to stop this?!_

…

"You need to go home, Leander," Heather told her friend as she paused in front of the Fat Lady's portrait.

Leander pouted. "I almost never get to do anything new! Can't I stay with you?" He gave her puppy-dog eyes.

Heather just raised an eyebrow.

"Fine," Leander sighed, raising his hands in mock-surrender. "But I will come get you every day when it's time for you to come train with the Vampires."

"What am I going to learn from the Vamps?"

Leander grinned. "We'll be working on your speed first. Our scientists have been working on something involving our DNA. You'd be surprised at how much can be done with muggle technology and some magic."

Heather's mind started reeling. She muttered, "Maybe that's it. I need to combine muggle and magic means to get a Lycanthropy cure…"

"You can get some training with our scientists if you want," Leander offered, hearing every word that she mumbled.

_Blasted Vampire hearing._

"That's good. Who knows what I'll learn." Heather smiled. "Now, shoo. You need to go home!"

Leander grinned at her with and shot her and exaggerated wink. In the next second his image blurred, and Heather was alone.

Heather rolled her eyes at her friend's running everywhere habit, and gave the password to the Fat Lady, "Griffin's nest."

"Come in, young heir," the portrait smiled, letting her into the common room.

"Thank you," Heather said, bounding into the common room, eager to go to sleep.

The common room was quiet as could be, and she quietly ran up the stairs to the seventh year dorm, falling onto her soft bed the second she got there. She barely managed to pull her clothes off before sleep overcame her.

…

_Heather looked around confusedly. She appeared to be in the middle of a battle, and she could see Death Eaters fighting Order Members. _

_ She froze as she saw her friends being killed._

_ Sirius fell to an AK from Bellatrix, his cousin._

_ James fell to an enraged blond man, who Heather was fairly certain was named Lucius. _

_ Remus fell to a laughing Greyback. The evil Werewolf was saying something like, "I created you; it's only fair that I end you."_

_ Peter was fighting – _

NO!_ Heather thought horrified. Peter Pettigrew, the innocent and helpless Marauder, was fighting a crying Lily Evans. He sneered at her as he shot an AK at her. "Happy Lily? You never even expected me to follow my master, did you? I've been his spy since the summer before seventh year! You fiancé, James ruddy Potter, never even expected it!" He laughed darkly. _

_ Lily's eyes darkened through her tears, and the redhead finally just shot the deadly green light at her former friend._

_ "Come on, Heather!" someone yelled. She turned to see Regulus limping towards – wait, was that her? "Severus, Ashton, and Xavier have all died already! Don't let their deaths be in vain! You must kill your father! You already got his Horcruxes!"_

_ Heather just watched as dream-Heather numbly nodded her head with a determined and furious look. She was wearing black dragon-hide armor and had weapons all over her. There was blood dripping down her face, and Heather wondered how her dream-self had gotten hurt._

_ "I'm on it," dream-Heather said, turning to jog towards the center of the battle._

_ Heather gulped as she followed herself. Fighting in the middle was Albus Dumbledore and Lord Voldemort. _

_ She watched horrified as her dream-self got there just in time to see Dumbledore get hit with an AK. _

_Her dream-self kept an emotionless face as she whirled to face her father. "I'm going to kill you, father," she growled._

_Voldemort just smiled. "I'm sure that you will try," he said casually, "but you are no match to me. Oh, don't give me that look. Did you really expect that I wouldn't find out that you were a traitor? No, you were an amusement to me; you actually thought that you fooled me, the greatest wizard in the world!" He laughed coldly. _

_He continued, "It's funny, really. You might have gotten away with it if you hadn't waited until the end of October to meet with me." He shook his head. "If you had tried to contact me some way towards the middle of September and met with me by the middle of October, I would have thought that you were just working on setting up good relations to be a spy for me."_

_He smirked at her. "But, alas, you failed. And now I'm going to kill you like I've killed all of your friends. I didn't even have to bring my Giants or any of my Dragons here. Your Dragon is already dead."_

"_Serenity died a hero's death!" dream-Heather exclaimed angrily. Heather wondered who this 'Serenity' was._

"_I even caught your phoenix," Voldemort continued. _

Phoenix?_ Heather wondered._

"_Lighting will get out!" dream-Heather growled._

"_I'm sure," Voldemort said dryly._

_Dream-Heather's eyes were burning a brighter red than Heather had ever seen her eyes burn. The immediate area around her was shining with the crimson light._

_Dream-Heather raised her hand that had no wands in them, although she did have wands on her arms and legs._

"_What are you going to do with no wands?" Voldemort snorted._

_Heather felt a rush of hope for her dream-self. Voldemort was unaware of her Elemental powers, and it was obvious that the dream was set several months in the future. Her dream-self had probably had more than three years of training by that time._

_Dream-Heather smirked evilly. "Just this," she whispered wickedly._

_She jerked one of her hands up, and the rock around the two rose one-hundred feet in the air, effectively cutting them away from the rest of the battle. She waved her hand at the walls of stone, and they turned into a hard, clear stone that looked like diamond. The people on the other side of the battle had stopped fighting to watch what was happening, but Heather was relieved to see a couple of Wood Elves slitting Death Eater's throats as they winded through the battle-ground._

_Heather also noticed with shock that there were people in military uniforms holding guns that seemed to be automatically refilling with bullets from somewhere._

_Her dream-self ignored all of that – she apparently already knew all about it. _

_Her dream-self then moved her hand in a rapid circle, and Heather could feel the air moving. She looked up and saw dark thunder clouds swirling and lightning weaving through the clouds. Rain did not fall, but a tube of cloud started to fall to her dream-self._

_Her dream-self expertly made the water coming from the cloud tube start to swirl through the air. With her other hand she faced it to the ground and started to chant under her breath. Nothing new happened until –_

_TUFT! A skeleton hand ripped through the ground and more soon followed. Several hands wrapped around Voldemort's ankles, but the Dark Lord was frozen as he watched mystified as his daughter faced him with a cold confidence._

_Once twenty skeletons had broken through the Earth, dream-Heather stopped chanting and let her hand relax._

_Voldemort blinked. Then, he started to laugh. "My, my, you have been up to no good! My daughter, an Elemental and a Necromancer! But, darling, I have to ask: What kind of Elemental are you? You just bended Air, Water, and Earth."_

_Dream-Heather looked at her father with a cold expression as he started to catch her mini-army of skeletons on fire. She calmly held up a hand, and the Fiend Fyre stopped. She flicked her wrist towards herself, and the fire rushed at her. Rather than crash into her, it started to swirl around her with the water._

"_I control all elements," she coldly stated, as the floor turned perfectly flat, and become covered in ice. "They are mine to control."_

_Voldemort stiffened as he looked at the ice around him, and he eventually smilled a dark smile. "Interesting. Not very fair to me, but I suppose I'll have to live with what I have. The elements might strive to help you, but I can control them if I so wish to."_

_Dream-Heather raised a hand before he could go on. "You are just a Bender; they will fight you, and they will want to help me."_

"_Perhaps." Voldemort nodded. "However, I am not alone. Did your mother tell you about the main consequence of the Fates changing what was supposed to happen? The Council had to even the playing-grounds just a bit."_

"_What are you talking about?" dream-Heather demanded. "My mother told me everything. After I defeat you, I shall have to destroy a girl who has powers that are nearly the same as mine. I will essentially be fighting an evil version of myself."_

"_But, daughter, I have recruited this evil version of you to join me. You are no longer my heir; she is." Voldemort laughed and the ground beside him started to shake._

_A raven haired girl that looked some-what similar to Heather jumped from the Earth, landing at Voldemort's left side. The girl's eyes were a demon-red, and she smiled darkly at dream-Heather as she held her chin up in a superior way._

"_I shall kill you, Heather Riddle. Your precious Council of Thirteen shall rue the day that they created us."_

…

Heather sat up gasping. She had a thick layer of sweat covering her, and her hair was sticking to her face.

She wearily glanced through the dorm, but all was quiet. She could not help but groan as she saw that she had only gotten four hours of sleep. She was going to get sick if her lack of sleep continued much longer. She would have to start taking a Dreamless Sleep Potion once a week to get at least one night's sleep each week.

She dragged herself out of bed, and trudged to the bathroom.

Isis, back to looking like a white she-cat, followed her. "_Are you alright?_"

Heather nodded as she rinsed her face off. She knew that it was in vain – she would have to take a shower. Her bright red eyes stared back as she looked into the mirror. She tried to calm herself so that her eyes would turn brown again, but she always had difficulty getting her eyes to stop burning after a nightmare.

"What kind of nightmare was that?" she whispered to herself.

There was a burst of blue fire in midair, and a letter fell out from the flames before they disappeared.

_It was a vision caused by the Seer Crystal Ball. What you saw will happen if you are not careful. The future is not set in stone, but it is a tricky thing. Try to prevent what you saw._

_~A friend_

Heather sighed sadly at the letter. "Does this mean the Peter is a traitor?"

Another letter appeared the same way as the first.

_We are afraid so. More of your friends than we want to name will die if he is not exposed. Tell Dumbledore what is going on, and try to alienate him from your friend group. Pettigrew is not to be trusted._

_~A friend_

Heather bit her lip mournfully. There went one of her only friends.

Her eyes got a hard glint in them as she stared determinedly at her reflection. She would not let _that_ future happen. She would expose Pettigrew for the traitor that he was, and she would not let her father find out about her true loyalties until it was too late for him to stop her.

She got in the shower, and after nearly an hour under the comforting water, she crawled back in bed for one last hour of sleep before she would have to go to breakfast.

…

"Oh, thank Merlin! You're back!" someone yelled right next to her ear.

Heather let out a strangled yelp as she resisted the urge to grab one of her daggers. Standing above her were the girls. Marlene was already gone, thankfully.

"Yeah, I'm back," Heather sleepily grumbled, dragging herself from her bed. She gave it a longing look. "I don't know why you felt the need to come between the relationship between my bed and me, but it was very rude."

Her friends' laughter followed her as she quickly got ready for the day. She put her long hair into a ponytail as she bounded down the stairs. She ignored everyone in the common room as she sprinted full-speed to the Great Hall.

She was _starving_! She had had _one_ meal in a week. Defiantly not healthy in the slightest.

As soon as she got into the Great Hall she ran to her seat, and started pilling food onto her plate as she caught her breath. The second that she got it back she started to shovel food into her mouth, somehow still eating without making a mess unlike some people she knew (cough, Sirius, cough).

She was refilling her plate when the Marauders plunked down around her in their normal seats. She had to restrain herself from AKing Pettigrew on the spot as she remembered him trying to kill Lily.

_But,_ Heather thought sadly. _The Avada Kedavra is looked down upon. Too bad…_

She crammed her mouth full to prevent herself from saying something that would let the Death Eater from knowing that she knew his secret.

"Hungry, Heather?" Sirius joked as he watched her eating, before following her example and cramming his mouth full.

Heather nodded, taking a huge spoon-full of egg. She grabbed some toast and bacon, and made a make-shift sandwich out of it, and took a large bite out of it when she finished chewing the eggs. After she started on the sandwich, she grabbed a sausage biscuit to eat after she was done with it.

Remus just stared at her. "How is it that when you eat this much – which is way more than Sirius does – you still manage to eat so neatly?"

Heather swallowed her mouthful. "Perk of being a Pure-blood that doesn't eat messily to rebel." She then promptly started to eat again.

James raised an eyebrow at her. "How are you still so skinny?"

Heather just shrugged.

"You eat like you haven't had anything in a week," Pettigrew commented.

Heather paused as she noticed the hate that she had never noticed before in his eyes. She just slowly nodded to what he said before going back to her food.

"Wait!" Remus exclaimed. "You haven't eaten in a week?"

"If you don't count last night, then no, I haven't."

She then started pilling her plate full of fruits, and sighed. "I wish I had a mango smoothie."

_Pop!_ Honey appeared beside her, holding a said smoothie. "Here, Miss Heather. We asked one of your family elves what you would want if you suddenly disappeared and came back without having food for a while, and they gave us a list. We made you this smoothie as soon as you sat down."

"Thank you, Honey. I don't know what I'd do without House Elves." Heather grinned. "And you guys are severally underestimated." Heather suddenly gasped. "I need to talk to Albus about something. I just got the best idea!" she excitedly told the Head House Elf as she got the smoothie.

"Good luck, Miss," Honey beamed, and went back to the kitchens with a _pop_!

Heather grinned as she started to cram her mouth with the different fruits, taking sips of her smoothie in between. She had just gotten started on the huge bowl of blackberries when Remus cut in, "Did you just call the headmaster by his first name?"

"Yes," Heather said immediately, inwardly yelling at herself for being so foolish. "I call all of the teachers by their first names in my head," she easily lied.

"Okay," Remus sighed. "Just don't start calling them by their names in class. James and Sirius are still getting detentions from calling McGonagall 'Minne'."

Heather nodded.

"What idea did you get?" Sirius asked her.

Heather craftily looked at Pettigrew, before glancing around like she was looking for eavesdroppers. She gestured them forward, and she whispered, "I think I just found out how to kill Lord Voldemort once and for all."

Heather felt like she deserved an Order of Merlin when she saw Pettigrew's reaction. All of the Marauders recoiled, shocked, but his reaction was by far the best. He spat out the piece of cheese toast that he had been eating, and he barely managed to cover his anger at the idea of her coming up with the way that his 'master' would be killed.

"How?" Sirius hissed quietly.

"Now, now. That would be telling, and who knows how many Death Eaters are in this room. There are probably spies of MoldyShorts in hearing distance. I need to let Albus let the Order know of my plans."

"How do you know about the Order?" James quietly exclaimed.

"Why are you telling us this?! What if we didn't already know about them?" Remus, ever the sensible one, asked.

"Because I already knew that you four know already." Heather said. "I know about the Order because Albus told me. He wants me to join soon," she said, carefully watching Pettigrew as she told them. As expected, his eyes widened and he looked like he wanted nothing more than to go tell Voldemort exactly what she said.

"What? That's no fair," Sirius whined.

"We can't join until after school, if even then!" James added.

Heather raised an eyebrow. "Have you seen me fight? Have you seen me duel? Do you see any parents that refuse to let me join?"

"I suppose that makes sense," Sirius sighed. "I just really want to join."

Heather gave him a hard look. "And what exactly do you think will happen when you join? That you'll be taking down Death Eaters left and right? That you won't get hurt? That an unforgivable won't get you?"

The Marauders stayed quiet.

"Have you ever seen people get killed? Have you ever seen people get tortured? Disected? Raped? Abused? Beheaded? Impaled? Have any of you ever been put under the Cruciatus curse?" she asked.

The Marauders all started looking sick, and Sirius slowly nodded. "My father put the Cruciatus once," he explained at his friends curious and horrified looks.

"And it hurts doesn't it?" Heather asked. "It feels like thousands of hot needles are poking every inch of your skin. Your nerves feel like they're about to combust, and you muscles twitch when it gets taken off. When it happened you probably hurt yourself on accident. You couldn't help but scream and you wonder how some people are capable of staying quiet. You wonder how many times those people had to suffer through pure agony to get a tolerance to it. You fear it being put on you again, but you know that it may be inevitable. Then you get angry – angry at the one who cast the curse, angry at the person who invented it, and angry at the world for putting you through it."

Heather paused. "You want to hurt the person who did it to you, but then you feel a determination like no other to prove that you are not like the monster that did it to you. You want to prove that you're not evil, so you promise yourself to never use an Unforgivable. But did you know that Crucio isn't a dark spell? Its original purpose was to heal nerve damage. The world isn't Light and Dark." She shook her head. "There are shades of gray in between. It all depends on intent."

She gave a wry smile. "A wise man once told me that sometime what is easy is not always right, and what is right is not always easy. That is the truth. Imagine being a Gray Witch like me. I believe that the intent matters, but the Light disagrees. The Dark doesn't want me because I'm not evil, but almost no one will side with me."

The Marauders all stared at her with rapt attention, drinking in every word that she said.

Sirius slowly asked, "How do you know what it's like to be under the Cruciatus curse?"

"Because I've been put on it many a time. My father is not a good man," Heather said, standing up. She gave them a sad smile before she left to head to her first class.

…

"Heather!" a man's voice called before she could get to Ancient Runes.

Heather turned to see Dumbledore striding towards her. "Yes?"

"Honey said that you wanted to speak with me."

Heather nodded, putting up strong privacy spells that she knew that even Voldemort would have trouble getting through. "I think that the House Elves can help us like you wouldn't even believe with this war. They can go through most wards, and can take us with them; they can do really good wandless magic and beat up some Death Eaters; they can hear when someone says their names, so if any Order members ever got kidnapped they could get them out of their; and they are _perfect_ 24/7 spies!"

Dumbledore blinked at her shocked. He broke into a wide smile. "Heather, my dear, you are _brilliant_! I don't know what I would do without you! This is the best idea I've heard in ages!"

"Thank you." Heather blushed.

Dumbledore just beamed. "And I saw how attentive the Marauders were when you were talking to them. When you start doing speeches, I can't even imagine how much you're going to get through to people! Make sure that you never turn evil; we'd all be screwed if you did."

Dumbledore was practically skipping as he started to walk away. Heather stopped the privacy charm as he called, "Heather, you are amazing! This idea is going to let us win this war!"

His face looked ready to rip from how wide his smile was as he skipped down the hallway. He seemed to be radiating happiness.

Heather just shook her head with amusement.

…

"What are you doing?!" a horrified voice asked, distracting Heather from what she was doing.

She turned to see a shocked McGonagall pushing through the curious students that were behind her – which was the entire school.

She just shrugged, turning back to the doors of the Great Hall. She let a bright smile come onto her face as she looked at the posters that were covering every inch of the doors.

_Lordy – De – De: The Voldemort Musical_

_Auditions on October 23. _

_Join us through the spectacular life of Lord Voldemort, world famous chef._

_Together with his Death Eaters, he holds the record for the best food in the world – wizaring and muggle._

_Voldemort, who gave us a tearful interview, told us all of the facts of his life from when he came to live in an orphanage to when he now holds the cooking record._

_This misunderstood man has been accused of being a Dark Lord by Santa's Elves who were quite jealous of his skills in cooking. _

_He tells us about how misunderstood he feels, and encouraged us to advertise his window-cleaning shop and his charity: Money for the Misunderstood. The money goes to framed criminals and to orphanages all over the world._

_The play will take place in December._

_We ask that you audition!_

_Thank You,_

_The Ministry_

Her lips twitched as she looked at her beautiful artwork. The posters were all throughout the castle, and she had used blood magic to ensure that they could only be removed by her or anyone she gave permission to.

"Miss Riddle!" McGonagall said faintly as she looked at the posters.

"Miss Riddle!" a new voice exclaimed. It was Slughorn coming up to her. "You must come join my Slug Club! You're already such a promising young student, and now you're arranging a musical!"

"Of course, Professor," Heather smiled, not even annoyed at the thought of politics. She was way too giddy because of her posters.

Her smile only widened when she saw several students gasp, looking between their left forearms and the posters.

_Ha! Bloody Death Eaters!_ Heather thought happily.

"Heather!" Dumbledore said cheerily, walking through the crowd. "This is a spectacular idea, but I'm afraid that we don't have the time for it this year. We will have to postpone it until next year."

Heather beamed. She shouted, "Did you guys here that? The musical will take place next year! Everyone start practicing your voices now!"

Most of the students started cheering loudly. The Death Eater students started to hesitantly cheer, not wanting to give up their covers.

McGonagall's eye twitched as she looked at Dumbledore.

Heather grinned. "Hey, Professor, you know what they say: if you can't beat them, join them."

McGonagall pursed her lips for a moment before finally nodding, a smile tugging at her lips.

Heather's beam just got larger as she saw the Marauders shocked looks.

_Not expecting that, aye?_

…

"Now what are we going to do to beat your prank?" Sirius groaned as he leaned onto her shoulder.

The Marauders, the girls, and Heather were all in the common room. Sirius had sat by her on one of the couches with Remus on her other side, and they were discussing her posters.

"What is wrong with you?" Lily angrily asked her. "Leave the Marauders to pranking. We don't need you to join them – if you did the school wouldn't still be standing!"

Heather pouted. "I get kidnapped for a week with no food, decide to play a prank to lift my spirits, and now I'm getting yelled at? That's not right. Dumbledore even thinks that the musical is a good idea!"

Lily faltered. "Well… fine. But don't do this again!"

"Of course," Heather grinned.

Sirius's groan made her look down at him. "We'll never compete with that!" he groaned into her shoulder. "Dumbledore is even going to let you get away with it! He's going to do the musical!" He groaned again. "Why didn't we think of this?"

James, whose head had been buried in his hands, looked up. "We need to make you an honorary Marauder."

Sirius's head shot up. "Yes, we have to. You out-pranked us big time. You'll become the first female Marauder!" He grinned. "We can tell you some top-class Marauder secrets!"

Remus stiffened beside her.

Heather looked at him curiously, Greyback's word in her vision coming to her: _"I created you; it's only fair that I end you."_

She shook the thought off as Sirius hurried to add, "Not all of them, of course! Just some of them! And you can help me decide what kind of motorcycle I want."

"Okay. One day I'll get permission to leave Hogwarts with you and we can ride two of my motorcycles so that you can get a feel of one."

Sirius beamed excitedly.

Remus relaxed, and Heather wondered what the handsome boy had to hide.

_Whoa, wait,_ Heather thought. _Handsome? …Okay, he is pretty handsome… But I can't like him! He would get killed being used against me. Wait! When did I say that I like him?!_

Heather barely stopped herself from groaning. _Great! Another problem to deal with!_

…

"Hello! Are there any snakes out here?" Heather yelled at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

She had been yelling for any snakes for nearly thirty minutes. She was getting ready to give up for the day when a dull hissing came from some bushes.

"_Yes, speaker. I am here," _the snake answered. It slithered out from the bush and Heather smiled seeing that it was a Blue Racer snake.

"Will you do me a favor?" she asked it.

"_What is it?_" the snake, that she deduced was male, asked curiously.

"I need a message sent to my father, but I am unable to go myself."

"_He is a speaker?"_ the snake inquired.

"Yes. He is a speaker," she told it.

"_Give me the message, and I shall deliver it. I will find him as quickly as possible."_

"Thank you." Heather smiled. "I need you to tell him that I'm working on coming back to him, but that I need to get close to the Order first. Let him know that I'm being a bit of a jerk to him in public to make people believe that I would never join him."

"_I shall deliver the message,"_ the snake hissed, slithering away.

"Thank you," Heather called before heading back up to the castle.

She walked to the headmaster's office, and the Gargoyle moved to let her pass before she even guessed the password. She smiled at it before she walked up the stairs.

She knocked on the door, and she walked in when she heard Dumbledore call, "Come in!"

She walked in and plopped down in the chair directly in front of his desk.

"Did you get a meeting with the muggle government arranged for me?" she asked.

"Yes, I did. You will go tomorrow, actually."

"Thank you." She grinned, standing back up. "I'd best go train some people before I come to go to my own lessons."

Dumbledore nodded to her. "Oh, here, Heather!" he said, tossing her a Lemon Drop.

She caught it and grinned at him before she closed the door to the office as she left.

_Time to ask Severus and Regulus if they'll help make a Werewolf cure…_

…

"_Now_ can she meet Slinky?" Salazar asked eagerly.

Scarlett growled, "Oh, for the love of Merlin!"

"Did someone call me?"

All of the Fates and the Founders jumped. Standing there was a man in his twenties. He had dark hair, dark blue eyes, and had a roguish smile.

"Gah! Merlin, what have I told you about appearing here whenever you hear your name?" Scarlett scolded

"Not to do it?" Merlin suggested with a wink.

"Yes! Now lea –" Scarlett froze. "Wait… how would you feel about having an apprentice?"

"That's alive? No one can do Old Magic well enough to learn more than a very limited basic." He mournfully shook his head. "There is no one that is alive who I could mentor. It is impossible."

"What about Heather Riddle?" Altar snorted. "That girl lives to prove the impossible."

Merlin got a thoughtful look on his face as he used his power to scy some of the things that the girl had done. When he stopped, he started to beam.

"Yes," he grinned. "I'll mentor as soon as I possibly can."

"It'll be a little while. We're not sure how long. Just a month ago, we would have said sometime before Christmas, but now it might only be a couple of weeks."

Merlin nodded, dark blue eyes sparkling with excitement. "I need to go get prepared for out lessons. Oh, someone who has the potential to learn Old Magic!" he exclaimed giddily, leaving the room in a burst of sparks.

"That worked surprisingly well," Erica commented.

"_Now _can she meet Slinky?" Salazar spoke up.

"Grrr…." Scarlett growled, making a strangling motion in front of her. Her red hair was starting to fall out of its elegant half-up style as she ran a hand through it.

**A/N: Done! What do you guys think so far? I would love to hear your opinions and ideas. Now I can have some fun with sarcastic, awesome Merlin. *Grins***


	19. Slinky, Lightning, Serenity, and Abe

**A/N: Next chapter is here! I need to have a nice mix of Marauder action for the next couple of chapters, then I'll bring in the spying and speeches, then I'll do some more stuff that I'll not spoil.**

**There is a rather violent threat in this chapter that Heather makes when she is in an irritable mood, so if you don't want to read it; don't.**

**And I know, I know. I'm a horrible person. It's been more than a week and this chapter isn't even that long. Sorry.**

**~Shadow**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other recognizable content.**

Chapter 19

Heather muttered profanities under her breath as she went between looking things up in the Book of Knowledge and writing in several notebooks.

A week had come and gone, and Heather was trying to keep herself from getting stressed. She knew Demons never got gray hair, but it did not mean that they kept their normal looks when stressed. Demons naturally were beautiful. She was not being vain; Demons would seduce people to kill them. It had always been that way, and she was not blind about her looks.

In fact, she often used them to her advantage. When you can get information from a hormonal man with a little seduction, why not use the advantage? She would never do anything more than a kiss or slight grinding to get information, but it was surprising how much she could learn that way.

In just the week that she had been training for, she had actually gotten more than half a year worth. It was safe to say that she was very impressed with the knowledge that the Ministry cut off and her father was unaware of.

The notebooks that she was writing in were for her research for the cure to Lycanthropy, a to-fix list for Hogwarts and the Ministry (both had several huge notebooks each), things she needed to learn, spells she had been creating, and ideas about Old Magic – including more powerful versions of Blood Magic – that she wanted to test. She was also working on learning Parsel Magic because she could speak the snake tongue like all others. Of course, it was hard to learn because there was no written snake language.

The CSC had given let her scan some of the world's largest libraries that were filled with everything from how to make good clothing to Necromancy to Warding to magical creatures. She even scanned a lot of muggle books.

Nicholas had decided that it would be a good idea to just give her a time-turner for her to use, and she was working on a way to improve it even more.

The CSC had let her scan most of the important countries' Department of Mysteries – or Secret Services or whatever they were called in different places - libraries.

Heather had also taken to going back in time a few hours at a time to work on getting more creatures on her side.

Thankfully, she had gotten the muggles on her side.

_ That had been quite an experience._

She had taken the port key that Dumbledore had given her, expecting to just have a meeting with the muggle Minister, but of course that did not happen.

She appeared in the Queen of England's meeting room! The muggle Minister was there, as well as several other important government officials including the head of the british army.

Heather had been cautious about them not knowing magic, so she had asked, "Do you know why I am here?"

The Queen had replied, "You wish to speak to us about the magic government." The Queen had laughed at the expression on her face. "Yes, dear, we all know about magic."

"Oh," Heather had said rather lamely.

After that, Heather had explained the situation to the Queen and to say that the Queen was angry would be an understatement.

She had not been informed of anything like the treaty between the muggle and magical world had promised, and low and behold, the Ministry of Magic was breaking _a lot_ of their treaties.

Heather had immediately asked to scan the treaty information, and had spent a month in the past reading it all as she wrote down facts.

She personally felt that the magical government needed an Order of Merlin – for incompetence. Seriously, how do you break a law about toilets and showers?! She was going to have to talk about all of that in her speeches too!

Anyway, Heather was getting _very_ stressed. She only had a week left of real time before she became a spy again directly after her birthday, and her father was 'eagerly' awaiting her return.

Only a day after she had sent the blue snake with the message to her father, the snake had returned with a message:

"Your father said that he is eager for you to return to help him better the world. He said to not worry about coming back too late if you are getting Dumbledore and the Order to trust you, but to try and come before the end of October."

Heather had just nodded, and was starting to wonder what the maniac was planning for her to do when he heard of her digging her claws into the Order.

He was rather foolish when he believed that she blindly trusted and loved him. Heather did have to admit, though, that she did learn a lot from him. She was already planning on opening a line of orphanages specifically for children with magic. She also wanted to start children's learning of magic at a very young age.

She also wanted to scrap the teaching techniques that they were using around the world. If there was one thing that she had learned from learning wandless magic, it was that the wizarding world was making it harder for itself. Teaching children to make complex patterns when using spells was foolish – it made it too hard to learn wandless later.

Plus, if they taught kids wandless while they were learning with wands they would get a better grasp of magic all together. When kids did accidental magic, it was wandless. Why should they give up wandless because a loud of teachers with pea brains decided that they learned better with using wands rather than natural talent that was already there?

Heather abruptly let out another string of rather crude curses as she saw a mistake in the formula for a cure to Lycanthropy that she was working on. The formula she was working on would give even the most adept chemistry master a migraine.

She had barely gotten anywhere and she had already figured out that a lot of the ingredients were going to either be very expensive, illegal because of the idiotic Ministry, or a combination of them both.

She had just slammed her quill down while muttering very, very colorfully under her breath when someone cleared their throat.

She raised her hand defensively, ready to pull water out of the air to fight with. Moody was going to have her throat for letting her guard down if he ever caught wind of it. Especially since some of the things that she was working on could get her a one-way ticket to Azkaban if the incompetent Ministry ever found out. Of course, they would not catch her – they were much too stupid to do that.

She barely glanced up, realized that the people interrupting her were no danger to her, and bent back over her work.

Her eye twitched again as another string of curses – this time much louder – erupted from her mouth. She ignored the librarian's disapproving stares (odd, really, that the woman liked Heather after hearing some of the things she said to herself) and marked out another problem that she saw. She was only in the planning stages, and had not even started on experimenting with it yet. It was truly no wonder why Potion Master's got so annoyed with the potion.

"Er, Fire?" a voice said, pausing her mid-curse.

Heather looked up slowly to see all four Marauders standing in front of her. She resisted the urge to Avada Kedavra Peter and instead focused on Sirius, the one to speak.

"Yes?" she asked.

"What are you doing?" Sirius demanded. "We could hear your cursing from outside the library!"

Heather blinked, a blush creeping onto her face. "I was that loud?"

"Yes," James confirmed.

"Very loud," Pettigrew added pathetically. Heather's eye twitched again.

"Oops?"

"What are you working on?" Remus asked, moving to her side. His eyes widened as he skimmed over her calculation. "What in Merlin's beard? I've never seen anything this complicated before," he breathed. "What is it for?"

"It _will_ be the blasted cure for Lycanthropy," she growled, glaring at the journal.

Remus recoiled as if he had been hit. "What?!"

"Yes," Heather mumbled, going back to her calculating as she added more letters, numbers, and runes onto the paper. "Xavier had better be happy with me when I'm done with this," she added under her breath.

"Who's Xavier?" Sirius asked.

Oops. She had not said that as quietly as she had thought, then. Great. Moody was going to kill her.

"A friend of mine."

"You have a friend that is a Werewolf?" James asked cautiously.

"Yes," Heather retorted. "And if you have I problem with it, then I'll gladly tear your skin off layer by layer. Then I'll slowly remove all of your organs that you can live without, be extra careful to not kill you, and then let you feel my lovely cold dagger against your heart. While you're still alive I'll let you fell the pleasure of being burned alive as I roast marshmallows over your burning corpse."

Heather did not even registered what she had said until after she saw the Marauders all stiffen. She looked up sheepishly. "Er, sorry. I'm in a bit of a mood . . ."

Sirius gave her a horrified look. "How can you threaten better than my mother?! No one threatens better than her! And how can you do it without even thinking about it?!"

Heather snorted, skimming over her calculations _again_, adding to them as she went. "I was trained by the best. One time I made someone deathly afraid of dairy products. Anytime that any of it was in the room, they would freak out."

Remus hesitated, before patting her shoulder gently. "I will never understand you."

With that, the Marauders left her to her predictions; Remus looking a bit shaky.

…

"What on Earth?" Heather asked as she stared at the bathroom in front of her.

Nearly an hour before, a note had appeared as all did coming from her 'friends', and told her to go to the bathroom that she was currently in. it had not been specific, but had told her to hurry before one of them killed the other over a slinky?

Heather was confused to put it lightly.

"What now?" she asked the empty bathroom.

A note appeared immediately.

_Tell the sinks to open in Parsel Tongue. Put a spell over your eyes so than nothing with the power to kill you by looking into its eyes can kill you._

_Good luck!_

_A friend_

"Okay, then," Heather muttered, casting the spell to protect her eyes onto herself. She cautiously walked to the sinks, and hissed into the air, _"Open."_

To her surprise one of the sinks moved, revealing what looked to be a slide.

Heather blinked at it, but slid down, nonetheless. She gaged lightly at the horrible spell as she landed with a thump on the ground that obviously had not been cleaned for quite some time.

Her nose wrinkled in distaste as she smelled the rancid odor coming through the room she was in but she sighed after a moment; it could have been much worse.

She continued walking and was starting to wonder what the point in being there was when she suddenly jumped into a crouch, holding a poisoned dagger in one hand and her wand in the other.

For in front of her, was the largest shedding of snake skin that she had ever seen in her life. She cautiously approached it and knew almost immediately, because of its condition, that the scaly hide was at least a century old. Meaning the creature that it belonged to was even larger than its shedding.

She bit her lip as she pieced together the clues that she had. Her stomach clenched as she realized what the beast most likely was.

A monstrous snake, a warning to put a spell over her eyes to prevent being killed, the hard texture of the scales, the smell of venom in the air.

The creature was a Basilisk.

She frowned deeply, looking at her dagger that had never looked more pathetic. It would do nothing against a Basilisk. She _really_ needed to get some Golbin weapons if she could.

She crept forward, careful to be silent, and glanced around. She walked in the shadows and she had never felt gladder that she seemed to blend into the shadows. Actually, had Nicholas not said, at some point, that that was a sign of Shadow Bending? She would have to ask him about it.

As she stepped forward into a much larger chamber and scanned the area carefully for any danger, her eyebrow raised as she felt her eyes drawn to the impressive statue of who could only be Salazar Slytherin.

"Slytherin," Heather murmured quietly. "Does that mean that this is the Chamber of Secrets?" she whispered, her mind scanning through all of the books she had read on the Hogwarts' Founders.

Heather curiously stepped forward in front of the statue. "It is Slytherin," she said, reading the inscription in the Old Language.

"_Indeed, young hatchling,_" a loud hiss echoed through the chamber. "_Who are you and give me a reason for not killing you for trespassing on my master's chamber and quarters?" _

Heather stiffened and gulped. There was the Basilisk, then.

"I am Heather Riddle, mighty one." Heather's stomach clenched when she heard the outraged hiss at her name. "I was given a letter to come here immediately. The writers of the letters have never given me bad information before, so I had assumed that it was important. I am sorry to impose on you and your master's territory." Heather bowed slightly to the snake that was slithering out from its hiding place.

The Basilisk pushed itself up to an imposing height (not difficult for a seventy plus foot death-glaring serpent) and stared down at her. Heather idly realized that the Basilisk was female as she contemplated a good escape plan.

The Basilisk suddenly moved towards her as fast as a cobra would its prey. Heather did not have time to jump out of the way as the snake had already knocked her down, keeping her there with its nose.

Bright side: it had not bitten her.

Down side: Its glaring eyes were less than two feet from her own, she was pinned to the floor, and the Basilisk was apparently very protective of Slytherin's chambers.

Heather held herself limp, wondering if that old trick would work. The basilisk ignored it though, and hesitantly sniffed her.

The Basilisk finally pulled back (without biting her, thank Merlin) and gave her a curious look.

"_You are not evil,_" the serpent finally commented. "_Are you a true heir_?_"_

"As far as I know."

The Basilisk let out a humming hiss. "_Very well, hatchling. My name is Slinky, Familiar of Salazar Slytherin; and you are my new master. That is, if you do not try to force me to do something horrible – like harm a student._"

Heather blinked up at the large serpent. Her emotions were in a rampage. First, she was delighted that the serpent liked her enough to not kill her. Her most dominating thought burst from her mind before she could stop it. "Your name is Slinky? Salazar Slytherin named a _Basilisk_ Slinky?"

Slinky reared up, insulted. "_I happen to like it,_" she said defensively.

Heather backtracked. "I meant that it's just odd!" she said quickly. "I don't have anything against the name, but a giant Basilisk named Slinky?" She shook her head.

Slinky nodded her scaly head after a moment.

Heather beamed. "Now that that's all cleared up, I ju –"

_WHOOSH!_

"What the –" Heather demanded, turning toward the sound. Her eyes felt like they were going to pop out of her head as she looked at the two new addition to the chamber.

A giant Dragon and a Blue Phoenix.

…

"Let's play a game," Heather said some time later.

"_What do you expect us to be able to play?_" a male's musical voice asked with skepticism in it.

"I don't know, Lightning. How about you decide?" Heather groaned.

Lightning, who was the Blue Phoenix, jutted his beak at her. "_You do realize that you are an Ambulant Demon, I am a Phoenix, Slinky is a Basilisk, and Serenity is a Dragon, right?_"

Heather sighed, leaning back into cool scales. "Fair enough," she sighed, touching one of the dark purple (nearly black) scales she was leaning against, trying to ignore the jolt that kept coming back to her stomach as she remembered her vision that said that she would meet the creatures. She just needed to find out who the Council of Thirteen was.

"Do you have an idea for a game?" Heather asked the Basilisk that was curled up across from her.

"_No._"

"Serenity?" Heather inquired, turning her head to the side to look at the huge Gemstone Dragon that she was leaning against.

Serenity shifted slightly, and craned her head to look at the redhead. Serenity's blue eyes bored into Heather's as she looked into the face of the massive Gemstone Dragon. The Dragon had an odd beauty to it and radiated power.

"_I have no ideas,_" Serenity said, revealing her teeth that were wickedly long, thick, and sharp. The tip of each tooth was as big as a human's head, and only got larger as it went up. Serenity's warm breath went over Heather like strong wind, and she was ever grateful that Gemstone Dragon's had good hygiene.

Heather sighed again, turning her gaze from the huge hypnotizing-blue eyes. "I'm bored."

"_We hadn't guessed,_" Isis said, sauntering into the chamber. The white she-cat calmly walked up to Serenity, not seeming surprised in the slightest that Heather was in the Chamber of Secrets with a Basilisk, Dragon, and Phoenix.

Isis stopped in front of one of Serenity's huge claws, and started to climb the Dragon. She did not stop until she was directly between the Elemental Dragon's large twisting horns on its head.

Isis lay down, and started to calmly lick her paw.

Heather blinked up at her friend, confusedly. "Do you four know each other . . .?"

"_Yes,_" Lightning sang in his melodic voice.

"_For many years, in fact,_" Slinky added.

"Do I even want to know?" Heather asked rhetorically.

"_N_o," the four creatures said in union.

…

"Wait, wait," Heather shook her head. "That's not right. You add eight spider eyes after the fifth clockwise turn, not three."

Remus groaned to himself, letting his head drop to his potion's book. "Why is this so hard?"

"It's really not. It's kind of like cooking," Heather answered. "Of course, I like brewing but not cooking. . ."

Remus just let out another groan.

Heather grinned. "Think about it this way. We're in the middle of a war. People are going to get injured, and if you go into the Order, you're going to get hurt and have to watch people die. If you can brew, then you can keep potions on you at all times, potentially saving lives with something you made."

Remus's head snapped up instantly. He pushed his book towards himself, and quickly grabbed a muggle pen, waiting to take notes. He waved his wand at the cauldron sitting to the side, cleaning what was left in it.

Thank Merlin that he did not know what the Room of Requirement really was. Otherwise, he might end up at one of her training sessions.

"Let's get going, Fire, we don't have all day," he said, looking at her with upmost attention.

Heather laughed, telling him how to make a Blood-Replenishing Potion in great detail.

_Hmm_ _. . ._ Heather thought when she had finished with her instructions. _I need to go get some more Healing practice. Perhaps I should volunteer in the Hospital Wing?_

Heather hummed mindlessly to herself, as she started a few potions to work on while Remus was busy doing his own. She glanced up to check Remus's work every now and then and give him tips, but otherwise stayed concentrated on her own work even though she could do it in her sleep.

Several hours had passed in silence, when the door to the room burst open, dramatically.

Heather looked up, a swear bubbling on her lips thinking that it was Severus or Regulus, but – thank, Merlin – it was only Alastor Moody.

She smirked to herself as she wished for the room to turn into a dueling ground, and she pulled two of her wands. Her smirk only widened as the room obeyed her, and she jumped behind a rock.

Remus stared around the room confused, and his eyes widened as he dived for cover as Moody started to fire curses at Heather.

She just grinned, though, and dodged them all by ducking, side-stepping, and rolling. She stood up, twirling her wands theatrically even though that was hardly tactical, and finally started firing Stupefies one after another.

She felt her magic slowly draining, but even twenty Stupefies later, her magical stamina barely had a dent in it. She had to prevent herself from testing out her Elemental powers, Necromancy, Goblin Magic, Vampire tricks, CSC tips and tricks, Dwarf battle-tactics, or anything else that she had learned. She also had to be very careful to make sure that she did not use any magic considered Dark.

Remus would see and that would be _very_ bad.

So she restrained herself to 'Light' curses as she dodged the paranoid Auror. A cutting hex hit her upper arm as she got distracted with Remus's shouting for them to stop.

She swore under her breath, before shooting more hexes at Moody. He dodged them with the grace of a well-trained Auror (he was obviously not trained by just the Ministry).

Heather jumped over a body-bind, and swiftly twirled out of the way of another cutting hex. She grinned cheekily at the Auror as she fired back.

"That the best you got?" Heather teased, shooting spells in a fast succession.

"I'll show you my best," Moody huffed in his gruff voice, his curses becoming more powerful and fast.

Heather gave a smirk, before she did a back hand spring, landing behind a huge boulder that the room had spawned. She sneakily managed to slow his stamina down, and she let herself get a cheeky grin as she crouched, waiting for him to make a move as she felt her magic bubbling inside her, begging her to let it go.

Moody gave her a hard look as he yelled, "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" and fired several curses at her, all high-powered.

Heather started dodging, confident that she would avoid them all. She was correct and she gave the Auror a wicked grin as she sent a hex at his shoulder before firing curses all around him, almost managing to get him, but missing.

He immediately retaliated with speed that amazed her, and she was tied up in a chair before she could get out of the way or raise a shield.

She swore loudly as Moody stalked towards her with a predatory grin on his face. "My, my, you do seem to be . . . tied up."

Heather pouted at the Auror. "That's not even funny. You sounded like Voldemort when you said that."

Moody scowled. "Great. Now I sound like a murdering psychopath." He sighed, using a spell on her so that she could not move, and taking her two wands from her.

Heather mentally rolled her eyes. For a paranoid Auror, he sure did not do much to prevent her from attacking back. Using the lessons in wandless magic from her multiple mentors, she stunned him. She then casually removed her binds, and transfigured the chair that she was sitting in to a throne.

"Bow to me!" she demanded mockingly as she leaned on her hand with a wide smirk, knowing that she looked beyond evil in that point. She knew how to be intimidating, all right.

So it seemed that living with her father for so long had done some good, after all!

Moody scowled at her, but said nothing.

"Never underestimate your enemy." Heather clicked her tongue in disappointment.

Moody just growled, before bowing his head to her.

Heather grinned, got her wands back, and cancelled her spell on Moody. "Good game," she commented, inclining her head, as she did a healing spell to stitch her skin back together from where Moody had gotten her.

Moody nodded. "You surprised me. Very good."

"Will someone please tell me what is going on?!" Remus demanded, staring at the tear in Heather's sleeve where she had healed the gash there.

Heather glanced up from cleaning her blood up. "Friendly competition."

"But you just tried to kill each other!"

Heather shook her head, a smile tugging on her lips. "If we were trying to kill each other, then one of us would be dead."

At that moment Kingsley Shacklebolt ran through the doors with Dumbledore behind him.

"What did you do, Alastor?" the dark-skinned Auror demanded, looking at the blood on Heather.

"We had a little mock-duel like we normally do when we see each other," Moody said, as if it explained everything.

Kingsley sighed at his friend, and Dumbledore's eyes twinkled merrily.

Remus threw his hands up in the air in exasperation, with a groan.

A smirk slid onto Heather's face as she ignored the odd jolt in her stomach as she looked at Remus with amusment.

…

"Tell the Queen 'thank you' for me?" Heather asked as she looked at the trunk in front of her. It had an expansion charm inside it and it had a fairly decent amount of muggle technology and weapons.

That is, if you consider enough weapons for a small army and technology that would not be released for at least forty years to be fairly decent.

"Of course," the man wearing all black told her, inclining his head.

"Thanks, Riley." She smiled at the man that was in charge of the Queen's men helping her. He was magical, but had left to join the muggle world (with his magic) once he found out how discriminating the magical world was to muggleborns like him.

Riley was the walking description of tall, dark, and handsome. He was in his late twenties, and he often used his charming words to get information for the Queen.

"You're welcome," he said, giving her a roguish smile.

Heather grinned at him, and turned to look back at what she had been presented with.

She was glancing at a flat phone, with no cord, when her eyes lit up with an idea as she thought about communication. A split second after that she got another idea that she wondered why Dumbledore had not thought of it before.

"I've got to go, Riley," she said, stuffing the trunk into her bag, making a mental not to put it into her Genie Lamp later.

Riley nodded, turning to leave, as Heather swiftly walked to Dumbledore's office.

She walked directly in (thankfully Dumbledore was not in a meeting) and sat down across from him. "I just got two amazing ideas," she explained, seeing the old man's curious look.

"What is it?" he inquired, handing her a lemon drop that she popped into her mouth.

"The Order needs to always have a portkey that is linked to you, Poppy, and me. It needs to go to the Hospital Wing, that way if any member ever gets attacked or kidnapped they can use that if they can't get one of the House Elves to come." Heather's eyes sharpened. "You have been getting the House Elves to help us, right?"

Dumbledore nodded, thoughtfully. "Yes, and that is an excellent idea. I shall get people onto it at once." He looked up. "What is your other idea?"

"Well, you know how I can talk telepathically to living things?" At Dumbledore's nod, she continued, "What if I made charms where people could talk to me that way by touching them, and they required no magic to be used. That way I could just have a charm bracelet or something covered in charms that actually allow me to talk to people telepathically. Then they could have charms, too, so that they could communicate with people that way, as well."

Dumbledore beamed at her. "That is a brilliant idea. Once you make them, be sure to give me one, okay?"

Heather nodded, her lips twitching into a smile. "I will."

…

"_You're crazy,_" Isis declared, resting her tail over her paws as she sat down.

"How so?" Heather asked, looking at the lake's surface. She was wearing a wet suit (so that none of the teachers could get onto her for immodesty) and she fully planned on going swimming.

"_The lake is cold, even if it isn't that cold up here, yet,_" Talon said from a few feet beside Isis.

Heather gave them both an exasperated look. "Elemental, remember?"

"Fair observation," Leander said, appearing in front of her, suddenly.

Heather let out a strangled cry, as she fell into the cold water in her rush to jump back. She glared up at the laughing Vampire. "Where did you come from, Leander?! I thought that you weren't coming today."

Leander grinned at her, jumping into the water beside her, its temperature not bothering him at all. "I made time to come." He shrugged.

Heather did not answer, as she concentrated on keeping the two inches of water around her warm. Once the water was warm, and was not going to get cold, she turned to her friend. "You might as well swim with me, then."

The Vampire gave her a lazy grin as he started gently propelling himself to the center of the lake, and she followed. Isis sighed, turning into a mermaid (not merfolk, but an actual mermaid from the Caribbean region) and swimming behind them, her scaly aqua tail shining under the water.

They finally got to the middle of the lake, and Heather swam strongly and methodically.

Isis moved her arms around herself as her now-blond hair floated around her. Her aqua top was partially under the water, and her regular electric-blue eyes scanned the area. "I like being out here," Isis sighed in English.

Heather nodded in agreement, as she warily glanced at Leander's mischievous look. He was up to something.

It did not take her long to find out what, either. From behind her, a huge tentacle wrapped around her and picked her up.

She stiffened as she was lifted out of the water and dropped the water cocoon that she had put around herself to stay warm, just in case someone was looking towards them.

"Let me down!" she demanded as she saw the Giant Squid looking up at her.

"_What would be the fun in that?_" the squid asked.

"It would be fun, because I can't do anything up here!" Heather responded.

The squid almost dropped her. "_You can understand me?_" he asked in shock.

"Yes. Now let me down."

The Giant Squid slowly lowered her to the water and gently put her into it. Heather wrapped her cocoon of warm water around herself again. "What is your name?" she asked.

"_Abe,_" the squid replied.

"Why did the Founders put you in this lake?" Heather inquired.

"_My purpose is to keep children from drowning."_ Abe looked as smug as a squid could when he said that.

Heather cocked her head to the side thoughtfully as she swam. "Would you be interested in helping me get rid of the people that are killing people – both students and parents?"

Abe deflated slightly at that. "_I can't. I am bound to this lake; I am unable to get onto land without dying._"

"There is going to be a battle one of these days, and it will most likely take place here at Hogwarts. You could snatch the evil people away from the surface and drown them or give them to the merpeople."

Abe looked at her for a second, then finally said, "_Of course. Anything to protect the students._" He looked at her. "_Will you come to visit me sometimes? It gets lonely out here. The merpeople don't like me much after I accidentally destroyed one of their structures._"

"Of course." Heather smiled.

…

"I have an idea!" James suddenly exclaimed.

Heather looked up from where she was sitting across from him with the Book of Knowledge (disguised as a history book) in her lap.

The Marauders and she (or all of the Marauders, as she was one now) were all sitting in the Gryffindor common room, and they had all put privacy wards around their area because they did not want to be overheard if they started scheming or anything.

"What's your idea?" Heather asked.

"I think I finally found a way to get Lily to go on a date with me!"

"Oh, Merlin help us all." Sirius groaned, running his fingers through his hair. "Is this going to be like that time that you serenaded her at dinner on Valentines and she hexed you?"

"No." James blushed. "Tomorrow I'm going to give her a bouquet of roses every hour, and then at diner I'm going to give her one-hundred bouquets to show that she has one-hundred percent of my heart."

Heather gave him a sappy grin. "Aww, that is possibly the cutest thing I have ever heard. You say you sang to her in front of the entire school? Why does she keep turning you down?"

James blushed again. "Er . . ."

"Because he's an idiot," Sirius supplied helpfully.

"What do you mean?" Heather asked Sirius, who was sitting to her left, doodling.

Sirius paused in his drawing. "James didn't notice her for a couple of years, and before that he pranked her and Snape. So, when he decided that he wanted to date her, she refused. So he acted arrogant and said that she knew that she wanted him, because he has issues dealing with hurt feelings. And he keeps messing up."

Heather looked thoughtful. "Hmm . . . yes, I'm going to help you. But first I need to write an idea down. How do you boys feel about the five of us singing Christmas carols in December in front of everyone?"

Sirius grinned. "I like it." His eyes flashed to Heather's other side. "Remus don't give me that look! It was her idea, and Dumbledore'll let her get away with it – us by extension."

Remus grumbled, "Fine."

"I knew I could count on you!" Heather said happily, playfully bumping her shoulder against his. She stiffened slightly at the shock-like feeling that she got when her hand bumped his. She turned back to James, wondering why her cheeks were heating up. "Okay, James, I'm going to help you two get together."

She pulled a journal out of her bag, almost grabbing her diary on accident. That would have been bad – she put everything that happened to her in great detail in that book, just in case she needed to remember something perfectly or know exactly what day she needed her necklace's recorder to play for her (because it recorded everything around her in third person).

"Here," she said, writing across the book's cover. "Done. Now we need to plan."

She opened the book that had '_Operation James and Lily'_ on it, and posed her muggle pencil to write. "First I need to know what all you've done so far. In a lot of detail."

Sirius looked as if Christmas had come early as he began to excitedly tell her about all of James's failed attempts.

Several hours and an intense migraine potion later, Heather was ready to bang her head against the table.

She gave James a hard look. "Why, Prongs, why?"

He shifted uncomfortably under her stare.

Heather sighed. "You know what, never mind. We have a lot of work to do." She looked at James. "First off, you need to stop seeking her out. Unless she says something to you, don't say anything to her. If you're both arriving at the entrance to the Head's dorm at the same time, open the door for her and let her go in first. If you ever see her struggling to reach something, give it to her, but don't say anything. Be nice to her, but never say anything arrogant. Got it?"

James nodded.

Heather continued, "You need to do this for a while. I see Lily every day and she trusts me, so I will decide when you do something different. I need to figure out exactly why she turns you down, even though I have a good idea." James nodded. "And finally, this is the most important thing: I will not plan everything. You have to help me, otherwise if and when Lily finds out, she will think that you are an idiot that can't plan anything and that it was all me."

James nodded again.

Sirius grinned. "Sounds like a plan to me."

Heather just grinned. "I'll try to go motorcycle riding with you before my birthday."

"Wait," Remus spoke up. "When is your birthday?"

"The twenty-second of September, why?"

Sirius froze. "But that's barely anytime away. We've got to get you a birthday party set up!"

Before Heather could say anything, the Marauders had grabbed their things and run out of the common room.

_Oh no,_ she thought. _What are they planning?_

…

"About time," Salazar said triumphantly, smirking as he sat back in his throne.

Scarlett's eye twitched, but she said nothing.

"When can I mentor her?" Merlin piped up, excitedly.

"In a little while. Sometime after her birthday," Scarlett answered with a grin, as she watched the warlock bouncing up and down on his throne. "How is King Arthur?"

Merlin got a cheeky grin on his face. "Arrogant, as always. He's busy trying to figure out how to use that computer that he got a hold of. Was it really a good idea letting him help us? He's never going to let that thing go once he figures it out."

Altar grinned. "Computers are rather impressive."

"Arthur can help her more with hand-to-hand," Scarlett said, ignoring the dark haired Fate with shining dark blue eyes.

"Fair enough." Merlin nodded.

**A/N: I hope you like this chapter, and like I said before, I am sorry that it's been more than a week. **

**Anyway, if anyone has any ideas for the next few chapters, I'd appreciate them. **


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